Murphy's Law -- Furnaces never go out in the summer

[ChuckM]

My neighbor furnace stopped working at noon (the gas technician would take up to 24 hours to come), and after two hours of waiting, she called up one of her friends who found that the regulator was frozen. After fixing it, he used a little "coat" to help it get thru the next few days (windchill of -40C to -50C):

No heat                                    Coat on after fixing the gas flow

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I ain't taking any chances, either! (The vent is not covered.)

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My shop/garage is fully insulated. Opening the garage door for just minutes (while I wrapped the meter with a blanket) brought the temp. immediately down from -3C to -8C:

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Not kidding when we say we're in a deep freeze.

 

[Packard]

Mine went out on Christmas Eve.  I got the repair man out to my house by 8:30 p.m.

He dismantled the bad part, but he could not get a replacement until the day after Christmas.  So a day and a half with no heat or hot water.  Unpleasant.

By the time the repairs were made it was 52F in the house and I needed a shower.

 

[ChuckM]

No portable or space heaters around?

11C is quite cold to sit around in the house. Here, 19C + is the recommended minimum winter setting for condo and apartment occupants. 

I have two gas fireplaces, and I also have several portable heaters (1500W) plus a 15,000 BTU Tank Top Liquid Propane Heater in case disaster strikes. I always keep a spare full tank for my BBQ stove.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

......and air-conditioners don't go out in the winter  [big grin]

I mean, it makes sense. That's when you are using it the most.

This is the harsh reality of the meter being outside. Mine is in my basement, has been since the house was converted from oil, before I was ever born. That came with its own challenges though. Someone had to let the meter reader in, quarterly. About 15 years ago, they installed a remote reader unit. So...problem solved, right? Well, not exactly. Now, someone needs to let an inspector in every few years, to be sure it's safe.....and that you aren't tampering with it. (problem diverted)
Every time they do this, the tech tells me that the company has plans to move them all outside. They never seem to have a timeline though.
The house I grew up in, had it in the basement too, but it was built in '64.

Maybe it's a local regulations thing? a specific year it changed. Like a "no new indoor installs after this date"?

 

[ChuckM]

There're two official reasons (one spoken, one not) why meters are installed outdoors in the city here: In case of emergency, they can shut the gas off only to the house for repairs, for example, without affecting anyone else... and the unspoken one: they can stop the gas flowing in the case of non payment! [big grin].

 

[Packard]

No portable or space heaters around?

[…]
I have two gas fireplaces,

I have a wall-mounted electric heater in my bedroom.  I was able to keep that room at about 64 degrees.  I also have an electric heater for my bed (not a blanket, but the mattress cover).

I have one wood burning fireplace.  I learned years ago that burning wood makes my house colder.  It creates a negative atmosphere in the house drawing in cold air from outdoors. 

So I could sleep relatively well, but the rest of the house seemed uninhabitable.  Because of Christmas, other options (like going to the movies) were out. 

And unlike other times that I did not have heat, this time I still had electricity.  So I could not justify the $200.00 per night that the nearby hotel charged.

That last time we had a power outage in the middle of winter, I ended up paying $800.00 in lodging fees.  I could buy a new Festool anything for that kind of money.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

There're two official reasons (one spoken, one not) why meters are installed outdoors in the city here: In case of emergency, they can shut the gas off only to the house for repairs, for example, without affecting anyone else... and the unspoken one: they can stop the gas flowing in the case of non payment! [big grin].

There's an outdoor shut-off valve that covers either of those too. It takes one of those odd Pentagon shaped sockets to work it though.

 

[SoonerFan]

When we remodeled and added on to our house we had a new furnace we purchased go out the first winter.  We had to buy some off brand because we could not get a York, Trane, Carrier, Lennox, etc. because of COVID.  HVAC contractor got it working again within a couple hours.  Then it stopped again early the next winter.  Contractor again got it working in a few hours.  We had one more issue the contractor was again able to fix.  Then the contractor did something amazing.  He called me said this unreliable furnace was a pain for both of us.  He suggested we replace it with a York (his main brand).  He REFUNDED every penny we paid for the off brand/lemon and did not charge us to install the York.  All we paid for was the new unit which has worked with a single issue.  Really appreciate his willingness to make it right for us.  We will be customer for many years moving forward.