Minus 35 and Arrrg!

[vics_zone]

hey! it's -35 degrees out and 60 inside and droping @ 12 mid night, I say what ever works other than a bonfire in the living room I've done this twice in emergencies and believe you me it does the job or the alternative shut the system down and let the temps drop down and watch the water pipes burst, around here lots of farm houses with poor insulation temperature drops fast you would never make it till monday.

[beenthere]

The box fan method will work, and if its a single pipe system it will take away combustion air, and could kill the residents, but atleast they died warm???

Around here, a supply house will open up at 2 in the morning if you need apart. I haven't had a customer that was really cold refuse to pay for the fee for the part house after hours charge.

[vics_zone]

the air gets blown in to the furnace thru the ducts not sucking it out its no diferent than the furnace fan the only diference is that its circulating basement air instead of upstairs air. And yeah if the guy is been laid up for ten years I would say he would be hard up for a after hors repair and opening fee after hours.

[beenthere]

Originally posted by vics_zone
the air gets blown in to the furnace thru the ducts not sucking it out its no diferent than the furnace fan the only diference is that its circulating basement air instead of upstairs air. And yeah if the guy is been laid up for ten years I would say he would be hard up for a after hors repair and opening fee after hours.

And if they don't leave the basement door open, where does the air come from then.

If the basement door shuts accidentially in the middle of the night while they're sleeping, your screwed.
He'll be laid up forever.

[vics_zone]

I don't see how a box fan is going to draw more than the inducer in first place if the inducer does not run there woluld be no flame, he said there was water fron the condensating pipe, when you said one pipe system I didnot think you meant a draft or 80% furnace! no it would not work for an 80% only for high efficiency furnaces where the flue is pushed out by the inducer.

[craig1]

the origional poster said the burner was running continuosly but the air from the vent above the furnace was cold. if the blower was broken the furnace would be cycling on limit and the air coming from the vent would be very hot but there wouldn't be much of it. I would think the problem would be more along the lines off a disconnected return in an unconditioned space. if the furnace is drawing -30 degree air in the return then of course the outlet temperature would be cold.

[vics_zone]

where is the original author and what happened to this furnace? and yeah flame on, felt like nothing coming out, I did not catch it felt cold to the touch of the plenum, how far was the vent he was checking, first thing has to be is the fan running and where are you going to get a return sucking -30 degree air, a return duct should not be going thru there anyways, maybe insulated, but even so not in this area of the country that would literally be throwing money out the window. you mean it would be cycling off on limit, and thats why asked about the fan. old units hihg limit switches do go bad and potetinally start a fire. depending on the style of the switch I've seen them not turn the fan off or on when they are supposed to and also seen them not turning the gas valve off.

[Edited by vics_zone on 02-22-2006 at 11:10 PM]

[Chill]

I don't think we have all the info we need to diagnose this one. Things have to be checked and ruled out. I am a little skeptical of the info given. He is giving the wind chill index, not air temp.