I have a YORK gas furnace, approximately 13 years old (I have only been in the house 1 year). I have been experiencing intermittent problems with it the last couple of days. The problem is that the heater ignites and but the blower does not always kick on. I understand that there should be a delay, but often times the blower just doesn't kick on. Sometimes the blower kicks on after the flames go out. This problem occurred when I first moved in and if I pushed in on the relay switch, the blower kicked on. Now that trick doesn't work. I had a tech come in and he pulled out the Fan/Limit control and told me Oxygen is getting into the chamber causing the control to knock off. His diagnosis was to replace the heater.
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Well, I had a second opinion. A guy came out this morning and spent about 30 minutes testing the system (the previous guy took 5 minutes). It turns out that the Pressure Switch is sticking and needs to be replaced. This is causing the system to cycle on and off intermittently. He tapped the switch an recreated the problem for me. He also suggested I wait to have the repairs done during the week so that I wouldn't get charged for an "emergency" repair. It's people like this that give me hope that the world hasn't gone to hell in a hand basket.
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When we bought this 1963-vintage house ~ 7.5 years ago it had a ~ 20 year old furnace and the original Trane air conditioner. We [link|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=36591|replaced ] the furnace (and A/C because) it was noisy and inefficient and had continuing problems with a circuit board failing (yielding no heat at all). The A/C was undersized for the house, ran all the time and didn't cool the place below ~ 80 F in the summer. Replacement was appropriate for us. Admin [link|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=192391|replaced] his his too, for substantially less than we paid (different brands, areas, etc.).
As long as the heat exchanger isn't cracked or there isn't something else major wrong, it can be fixed. The benefits of replacement are it'll be quieter, more efficient, and more reliable.
With the cold snap you might have trouble having someone come out in a "non-emergency" visit. But have someone come out. My guess is you'll only be looking at a few hundred to get it fixed. Pumpkin and EGC will thank you.
HTH. Luck!
Cheers,
Scott.