Why Do Furnaces Break On the Coldest Holiday Night of the Year?

[Tony Sivori]

Good question. At least a few I would imagine.

Not really. But if it pleases you to think so, go ahead. In my case the thermostat had previously malfunctioned. Which I mentioned in the original post. What I didn't mention was that I don't like programmable thermostats so I wanted to replace it with a non programmable one.

You probably just skimmed the post before replying. I don't blame you. :-) I mentioned that I had only been in the house since May. The home inspector that I used did test the furnace and he said that it could use a cleaning. As far as hvac goes, I'm no one's long term customer.

I think you're drifting alright, the question is where. Maybe, if you would forgive the conjecture, into an over caffeinated state.

[scott21230]

Just about everything is more likely to break down when it's used more or put to more stress. Duh.

[Zyp]

Is that what it is? I woulda never guessed.

[Tekkie®]

Zyp posted for all of us...

That explains the calllous' on my hand?

[ChrisJ]

Lucky you that you were able to fix it.

Six years ago about 10 days before Thanksgiving our furnace caught fire (btw, this is an extremely inefficient method of heating one's house). We were able to put it out but not before the electrical controls were melted and the furnace was kaput. Fortunately we were home or the fire probably would've spread to the rest of the house.

So the next day we had a HVAC guy come out, he did some calculations and we ordered a nifty new furnace to replace the 42 year old melted one. The new furnace would be in on the Monday before Thanksgiving. We were happy until we learned that the weekend before was the opening of deer hunting season and there wasn't a single HVAC tech to do the job until after Thanksgiving. I guess it must be a requirement to have a current deer hunter license before you're allowed join the HVAC ranks. So we made due with electrical heaters and thankfully the weather stayed moderate.

Chris

[Dr. Hardcrab]

Lucky you that you were able to fix it.

Six years ago about 10 days before Thanksgiving our furnace caught fire (btw, this is an extremely inefficient method of heating one's house). We were able to put it out but not before the electrical controls were melted and the furnace was kaput. Fortunately we were home or the fire probably would've spread to the rest of the house.

So the next day we had a HVAC guy come out, he did some calculations and we ordered a nifty new furnace to replace the 42 year old melted one. The new furnace would be in on the Monday before Thanksgiving. We were happy until we learned that the weekend before was the opening of deer hunting season and there wasn't a single HVAC tech to do the job until after Thanksgiving. I guess it must be a requirement to have a current deer hunter license before you're allowed join the HVAC ranks. So we made due with electrical heaters and thankfully the weather stayed moderate.

Chris

I'm not a hunter (but I play one on TV) but with my company, it's the same thing. Half are deer hunting and the other half are rabbit hunting on the Eastern Shore.