Why is it that when the gas valve on the furnace decides to fail, it is on a holiday weekend?

[Thor_MN]

I have a wood stove as well, so I won't freeze by any means, but it is probably going to be chilly in here until Monday. It's an older furnace, and it isn't going to be easy to find a part.

[ScreamingMeemie]

1. Oh crap.

It is Murphy's Law I suppose.

[LiberalArkie]

2. There are millions of dollars spent on R&D for the proper design to be able to enhance

the income level of the factory trained service personnel.

[sharp_stick]

3. Always

I understand completely. If you have a service contract give them a call, if not get some blankets until you can get the parts.

Stay warm.

[Lifelong Protester]

4. Be grateful it's not plumbing

Hope no wind kicks up!

[hifiguy]

5. It's inevitable.

Like the air conditioner conking out during the summer's worst heat wave.

[LiberalArkie]

6. But is it the valve or the power supply to it. And it could be that the thermostat

is not working properly also. Google it and I bet you will find a wiring diagram for it and might be able to trouble shoot it. Usually you will have a 24 volt transformer with one wire going to the valve and the other to the thermostat and then from the thermostat it runs to the valve. Sometimes the AC power to the transformer is out like a breaker trip or a fuse blown.

[Thor_MN]

11. It's the gas valve. It is making a buzzing humming noise when the thermostat is calling for heat.

That was my diagnosis and the furnace guy took 30 minutes to decide it was the gas valve too. He is checking with an older acquaintance who is a furnace guy to find a replacement art or a newer gas valve that can be substituted.

In the mean time, it's chopping firewood and feeding the wood stove for heat.

[sinkingfeeling]

7. I had one go out on Dec. 23, 2007. It's like they're programmed.

[Nay]

8. It's a law. Cars do that shit on the weekend, too. nt

[HereSince1628]

9. Pretty common for things to break when they are used.

Hang in there. Monday isn't so far away...

National weather service promises an above normal temp Dec!

[Thor_MN]

12. Yup, suposed to be a high of 33 tomorrow, veritible heat wave.

[HereSince1628]

16. I remember Bemidji and parking on the lake after t'day break

So, 33 really -could- be a heat wave for some parts of MN.

[FuzzyRabbit]

10. Why? For the same reason your sewer line clogs up

on Thanksgiving morning or Christmas Eve, just as your extended family arrives for the holiday.

It's a basic law of nature. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time.

[2pooped2pop]

13. the machines are in cahoots with the repair people.

Transformers

[Agony]

14. Dogs always bite the porcupine

when the vet's away. corollary to same rule…

stay warm
i'll keep the dog close at hand

[northoftheborder]

15. Why does my disposal always break down on holidays?

[sorefeet]

17. For the same reason I woke up

at 2 a.m. Thanksgiving morning with a raging tooth ache. Ended up at the emergency room for anti-biotics. It's all just to make your life miserable for a couple days. All I could get down all day was one slice of bread.

[Thor_MN]

23. You have my sympathy. I was prepared to not be 100% for eating on Thanksgiving.

Was supposed to have some wisdom teeth out the Friday before, but they wouldn't do it because of my blood pressure. A (long overdue) trip to an MD later and I have two prescriptions now and expect that the doctor is going to add some things after ordering some follow up lab tests. I also have a sleep study and a colonoscopy scheduled.

At least my mom can't nag me about that any more...

[ManiacJoe]

18. One of the corollaries to Murphy's Law.

Things will break at the worst possible time.

[tblue37]

19. My heater (electric) quit on me Thursday, too, and of course this is our first span of

genuinely cold weather, with ice from freezing rain all over everything.

I am waiting until Monday to call the landlord, though, because he would have to pay the heater guy double if he came out over the holiday, and my little space heater is keeping us comfortable enough for now.

My air conditioner also waits for weekends and holidays to stop working, and always when the temp hits 100 degrees in July.

[Snobblevitch]

20. I don't know anything about your situation,

except that you also have a wood burner to heat your home, but if you have the money, replacing your old furnace with a new, high energy efficient furnace would lower your hearing bills. Of course, there is the initial cost.

[Thor_MN]

21. And the time to get one installed...

I've probably got no room to gripe financially.

In the long run, I'd be better off getting a new furnace. But considering the new car, new roof that I had not much choice about this year, and new health issues brought up while attempting to get wisdom teeth extracted, I've made significant dents in my cash reserves. I work in IT, and after spending the summer of 2002 jobless after training a H-1B visa holder how to do my job, having a buffer became important to me.

If my guy finds a gas valve that will work, and it isn't a significant fraction of the cost of a new furnace, I'll try to squeak another year or two out of the beast. I'll have the house paid off in about 30 months, and replacing the furnace closer to that time will be a much easier decision.

[csziggy]

30. Snobblevitch is right - replace it when you can

My parents' house had the original heating and air conditioning system from when the house was built in 1968. About five or six years ago it started breaking down - one part or another would go out, always at the worst possible time.

Dad didn't want to spend the money to replace it so he paid the repair company to patch it up. Over those years he spent about three times as much for repairs as a new system would have cost, and he was still paying more for the air handling in utility bills every month.

After Dad died, the system went down and my sister (who is handling Mom's affairs) replaced the unit. Not only is the house more comfortable, Mom's utility bills have dropped drastically.

I hope you can stay warm over the weekend!

[Retrograde]

22. The same reason your plumbing decides to act up before a dinner party

We had an old gas furnace go out one winter and while we're nowhere near as cold as Minnesota it does get down to freezing. Since the furnace repair guy dated the old one to c. 1910 and parts were not available, we ended up replacing it with a new, smaller and more efficient model. But it was a very cold two weeks.

[Iggo]

24. Systems only fail when you need them.

[lancer78]

25. my parents

Had their furnace go out as well last week.

[pansypoo53219]

26. why does a boiler decide to die on the coldest day -50 in the middle of the night?

because they can. the spice of life. no wood backup. only coffee & sweaters & call in for repairman. on the bright side, not living in a cave.

[LibDemAlways]

27. A few years ago my mom's oven chose

to quit on Christmas day when she went to turn it on to cook a turkey. Fortunately, I live close by and came to her rescue, but it seems that appliances have both a mind of their own and a mean streak. She also once had a water heater burst on the 4th of July. These things always happen at the worst possible time.

[leftyladyfrommo]

28. My furnace is out.

Needs a whole new heating unit so I am waiting on parts. No furnace for a week now. I'm using 2 heaters. My house is really little so it's not 2 bad .

Problem is when I have to leave for a while I have to turn the heaters off so it's cold when I get back and I have to heat everything back up again.

Could be a lot worse. At least I have electricity and I am not homeless.

[Victor_c3]

29. It's good to have a woodstove too

It's a nice backup - and I've used it several times in the last couple of years when I've had issues either with the furnace or during extended power outages.

I use my woodstove a lot to heat my house so I always have plenty of firewood around as well.

Enjoy!

[AngryAmish]

31. It is the double time and a half detector.

Union rules demand they are installed on all major appliances.

[Thor_MN]

32. Having a working furnace is great...

Finally the heat is back on. I think the repair guy gouged me a bit on the labor, since the extra time was due to his fumbling around and the after hours was him bumping me from our agreed on business hours time for "an 80 year old lady without heat", but frankly I don't care. Having heat is wonderful.