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I need to complain: my furnace is broken, for the third time this winter. Time for a new one. My family is whining to me about my not working on it fast enough. They do not live here and I can well get along with space heaters for a short time. I remind them that I grew up with one stove that burned peat which we dug ourselves, dried and stored in the shed and started a fire every morning. They remind me that I am not eight years old anymore. I remind them that I am dressed in Alpaca and Sheep wool clothes and feel comfortable, but nothing I say has any value. The man from the energy cmp[any is coming on Monday. We will negotiate the new furnace. This one lasted 17 years. Is that a long time? There are not many moving parts on a furnace, so why did this not last longer? Oh well. I can deal with the furnace replacement, but my family is driving me crazy. Thanks for listening.

Spinliesel 9 Apr 2
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Dealing with a broken furnace for the third time can be super frustrating. Time for an upgrade, indeed!

I feel your pain, but the good news is you've got options. Check out dynamic heat and cool.ca/services/furnace/furnace-repair/ for their furnace repair services. They might be able to get your current one back up and running, or if it's time for a new furnace, they can help you find the perfect replacement.

Wishing you a warm and cozy resolution to your furnace troubles!

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Winters over so take your time

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Heat pump furnaces in winter can work as air conditioners in summer.
Articles about them by people on twitter who have used them.
[twitter.com]

I talked about heat pumps to an expert (?). He said it would be too expensive for my old house because it requires a lot of pipes? I will ask the expert about that today. It. is cold and damp this morning. My bones are aching.

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Do you know what the problem is yet?
I only ask because there are a few things that can be wrong with furnaces that are a quick, cheap (or even free) fix. Most notably, a corroded flame sensor. Just ran into that again this winter and fixed it myself in about 10 min for free. This is probably not helpful info, but I just wanted to make sure.

Jeff, it is the heat exchanger (?) and the inducer motor(?). Can those be installed new without replacing the whole unit?

@Spinliesel Oh, no, that's pretty much the "essence" of the furnace so to speak. I will preface this with admitting I know very little of what can be known about HVAC, but I think at that point, unfortunately, you're better off getting a whole new unit.

@JeffMurray That's my idea as well. Let's see how it goes.

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You won't get 17 years out of the next one. The period of planned obsolesence has become shorter

Cyclone, you won't get 17 more years out of me, either. I am leaving the house ( built by hand in 1860) to my grandson. He is lucky it does not have the original "octopus" oil furnace. You guys are my subject-matter experts here.

@Spinliesel go on, you don't look a day over 60 😃

@Cyklone Thank you, Dear. You made my day!

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My HVAC was replaced a few years ago, when the house was about 12 or 14 years old. So, I'd say 17 is a good run. Also they're getting more efficient and eco friendly all the time. I do have a fire place, but in all my years in this place I've never turned it on. It is in the basement family room. I think that is very inefficient to have a heat source in an open basement. Most of that heat is going to go upstairs. Your family cares about you so let them fuss. It is their way of caring, and then just do your own thing. You might tell them it isn't open for discussion, you're a big girl and will take care of it on your schedule.

Thanks, Hippiecheck. I take your advice. My house is from 1860, built by hand by the man who raised his family there. There are a lot of idiosyncracies, as you can well imagine. None of the windows and doors have exactly the same size openings and replacing anything is always a custom job. I want to leave a house to my grandson that he can manage. He is not very handy.

@Spinliesel I grew up in a house built in the early 1900s, none of the corners were true square, and the windows were drafty. The house had a coal furnace when first built, there was a coal room next to to the furnace room. I much prefer modern buildings. My daughter OTOH likes the older houses, they have "more character". And she is coming to realize character is not always comfortable.

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