The Heat is On and Off and On and Off and On
We started off our Thanksgiving holiday week with some excitement. Or at the molecular level, a lack of excitement. When we woke up Sunday morning, the heat was not working. This is always a fun way to wake up on a chilly day in November. We called the emergency number for our HVAC contractor at 7, and their person on call arrived at 9:45am. Half an hour later and one replaced thermocoupling later, we had heat again. When we were settling up and the radiators were warming up, the contractor mentioned that "the next time someone comes out for routine maintenance, you may want to get the gas valve replaced."
He was more right than he knew, because later that day M noted that the radiators were no longer warm, and the temperature in the house was not rising. Once again, we called the emergency number and around 4pm the same contractor turned up. He very apologetically reviewed the boiler again and found that sure enough, the gas valve had died. It's unclear if he bumped it during the initial maintenance or if it just coincidentally went out, but after another hour of work the valve was replaced and the radiators had returned to a nice toasty state.
That was an unanticipated $500, mostly in parts because he waived some of the labor because he had to visit twice. It sure beats not having heat. Hopefully the contractor's other prediction holds off for a while. After his first visit, he said "that model of boiler usually lasts about 25 years before it needs to be replaced, and it looks like it's about 25 years old." That's one more thing to budget for, but I sure wouldn't mind if it held off until next summer or even longer!
But wait, there's more! On Sunday night, the house had returned to its normal temperature so we reset the thermostat at its usual 62. The next morning, we arose to find it was 70 degrees downstairs, and much hotter upstairs. When the HVAC contractor returned a third time, he realized that he had not correctly reconnected the thermostat cable to the boiler, so the boiler thought that it was constantly being told to turn up the heat. One night and day later, it appears that third (free) visit has done the trick, but we'll see...
On a side note, one thing they don't tell you when dating is that finding someone who likes the same temperature range that you did is an important but rarely mentioned trait. Fortunately, M and I both like similar temperature ranges. If anything, she likes it a little colder than me in the house since she runs a bit hotter. My best non-romantic roommate, Micah, also enjoyed colder temperature settings.
He was more right than he knew, because later that day M noted that the radiators were no longer warm, and the temperature in the house was not rising. Once again, we called the emergency number and around 4pm the same contractor turned up. He very apologetically reviewed the boiler again and found that sure enough, the gas valve had died. It's unclear if he bumped it during the initial maintenance or if it just coincidentally went out, but after another hour of work the valve was replaced and the radiators had returned to a nice toasty state.
That was an unanticipated $500, mostly in parts because he waived some of the labor because he had to visit twice. It sure beats not having heat. Hopefully the contractor's other prediction holds off for a while. After his first visit, he said "that model of boiler usually lasts about 25 years before it needs to be replaced, and it looks like it's about 25 years old." That's one more thing to budget for, but I sure wouldn't mind if it held off until next summer or even longer!
But wait, there's more! On Sunday night, the house had returned to its normal temperature so we reset the thermostat at its usual 62. The next morning, we arose to find it was 70 degrees downstairs, and much hotter upstairs. When the HVAC contractor returned a third time, he realized that he had not correctly reconnected the thermostat cable to the boiler, so the boiler thought that it was constantly being told to turn up the heat. One night and day later, it appears that third (free) visit has done the trick, but we'll see...
On a side note, one thing they don't tell you when dating is that finding someone who likes the same temperature range that you did is an important but rarely mentioned trait. Fortunately, M and I both like similar temperature ranges. If anything, she likes it a little colder than me in the house since she runs a bit hotter. My best non-romantic roommate, Micah, also enjoyed colder temperature settings.