Furnace issues, December 27, 2017

Our furnace crapped out yet again during the coldest time of the year.

I don't know if furnaces are more likely to fail when they are most needed, or if already-existing issues only become obvious when temperatures drop. We had been noticing irregular heating throughout the house for a while: some rooms hot, some rooms just barely warm. Still, temperatures were generally in an acceptable range, and never below 70 degrees F (21 degrees C.) Until yesterday, that is.

Last night temperatures in the kitchen dropped to 66 F (19 C.) The furnace would cycle on for a few minutes at a time, and then go down for a while. The "hot" rooms were warm, while the "warm" rooms were cold. This morning the kitchen was 60 F (15.5 C), and the "hot" rooms weren't much better. It was time to call in the furnace repair guys, again.

Long story short: it was the circulating pump, again. Just like in 2016. The repairs were performed by Carpinet Plumbing & Heating under a HomeServe service contract. Other repairs had been done in 2007 and 2006. Once again, we've been advised there's no preventative maintenance to do. I guess we'll keep an eye on the temperatures, and call again before temperatures drop so low.