Yikes! My furnace just caught fire! Ask me anything.

[HeeBGBz]

I heard a thump/poof. Then my cat started staring in that direction and then the smoke alarm (which I only put a battery in yesterday) went off.

I went back there and there were flames coming from the pilot light switch. I put it out but now I can't turn off the pilot. The furnace wasn't running at the time either.

Plus it's supposed to snow tonight.

[Midlodemocrat]

1. Ugh, how about contacting a repairman before that sucker explodes

and kills you? Just a thought.

[HeeBGBz]

12. I believe you need cash for that.

I will contact my gas company though.

[Red State Rebel]

23. Our company takes post dated checks from people

who are in financial straits. We also have loaner space heaters we give people to use in emergencies. It's hard some times - being in business and wanting to be able to help people but having to make enough to pay the bills.

[trotsky]

2. Run outside and turn off the gas to your house.

NOW!

[benburch]

5. Most people don't have the right tool for that.

The fire department DOES.

[benburch]

3. Call the fire department.

They will come and make sure you don't have a huge problem.

[Modem Butterfly]

4. They can do that?

Holy shit.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

6. DO NOT HESITATE - CALL THE FIRE DEPARTMENT!

DON'T DIE!!!

[bleedingheart]

16. Bingo! We have a winner...call the Fire Dept and they will contact the

Gas Company

[radwriter0555]

7. CALL THE GAS COMPANY. They will come out RIGHT NOW...

Trust me.

The Fire Department can't help you as much as the gas company can.

[benburch]

9. Yes, but they have the sparkproof brass wrench.

The gas company comes later.

[HeeBGBz]

8. Ok, I got the pilot out.

There are no flames anywhere in the house now to ignite anything. I will have to see if the gas company can shut off gas to my place without shutting it off to my sister's house.

[benburch]

11. Gas is still leaking.

It WILL re-ignite.

Get out of the house and call 911.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

14. Where do you live? I'll call 911 for you if you won't

[shawcomm]

15. If the pilot switch doesn't work, and you managed to put out the flame

that means that the pilot is spewing gas into your home at this very moment. Whether or not your sister's home is tied into yours is moot at this point. You need to have your gas turned off. Open a window, don't turn anything off or on and get out of the house to wait for the gas company or fire department to arrive.

[shawcomm]

10. WTH... get off the computer if you haven't already

and call the fire department or your gas company. If your pilot won't go out, and the switch was on fire, it could allow the burners to fire up without the furnace actually working. You need to get the gas off NOW.

[EC]

13. sounds like your fuel line froze

turn it off and call repair... doesn't cost that much...as long as motor didn't burn out and fire pot is fine...


never mind if it's gas heat, sounded more like oil from discription, get out and call fire dept. to get gas turned off

[peekaloo]

17. oh my I read the title wrong. I thought your fiance caught fire.

hope it's under control now.

[Midlodemocrat]

18. HeeBGBz

Please call 911 immediately. Do not turn on/off any lights, switches etc.

Take your cat and go to a neighbor's and call 911. This is an emergency.

[HeeBGBz]

19. Gas is shut off and repair guy is here

Just hope he can find a part for it.

Thanks for the advice everybody.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

20. Glad you're alright. And good luck.

:thumbsup:

[tigereye]

21. aren't furnaces fun?

glad you are okay. :hi:

[HeeBGBz]

22. No fun at all

It would cost me $260 to fix it and he said it really wasn't worth that much because its so old. So I'm not gonna have it fixed. I just hope winter is mostly over.

It will give me more incentive to get the hell out of here by next winter.

[Red State Rebel]

24. How old is it?

You might want to get a second opinion - we have been to bids where people were told they needed a new furnace or a/c and it really just needed a part and would last just fine.

Some hvac contractors pay their techs a commission and it invites fraud. We refuse to do that.

[HeeBGBz]

27. It's about 30 years old I guess

He just said it wouldn't really be worth it to put a new part on a furnace that old. Said it would be better to pay $800 for a new furnace.

[tigereye]

25. we have an ancient furnace

from the 60s or so. Every year we have to have a part replaced and we hold our breath to see if we are going to have to shell out mucho dinero to replace it. A few weeks ago, my so had to rewire something ( there was a short, fuse blew, and of course it was Friday night and getting someone out here would have involved astonomical rates.)

Fortunately my so has seen the furnace being fixed and fixed it so many times, that he now knows how all the parts work!

However, some repaimen will just fix it and some will tell you it's not worth it; it might be worth another opinion. I only say that since having so many parts replaced on ours had saved us the cost of a new one. :)

[shawcomm]

26. Check another repair company. You're in a bind and the guy knows it.

He would much rather sell you a new unit than repair your old one. Check around.

[HeeBGBz]

28. What creeps me out

Just yesterday I put a battery in an old smoke detector I had. That (besides the poof and the cat staring warily down the hallway) is what alerted me to the fire.

If it had happened two days ago and at night, I would probably be a crispy critter about now.