Spokane, WA · Member since 2013 · 57 posts · 7 votes
Just got a call from my tenant saying the gas furnace isn't working. If I can't get a repairman out there today (it's Sunday) and they have to go a whole day without heat, what do you do? Tell them to suck it up or stay someplace else for the night?
I'm sure there are a ton of people that have been in this situation before and I would love to hear how you navigate this issue.
First you have to understand how your heating system works; that may or may not be within your skill set, but that's where you start.
With gas heat, there has to be some sort if ignition. If it has a pilot for ignition, then you can check whether re-lighting the pilot gets it going. The pilot fuel supply/flame size might have to be turned up. The pilot might not stay lit - usually due to a failed thermocouple (a replacement thermocouple is about $10 at the big box hardware stores and it is easy DIY). If electronic ignition, then you have the possibility of a failed glow bar. Circuit breakers and the emergency switch sometimes end up in the off position (also possible for systems with a pilot flame). Sometimes the failure has nothing to do with any components within the heating system itself; I had a failure caused by an empty plastic grocery bag getting sucked into the opening on the air intake on a furnace on a windy day - no air for combustion causes unit to not fire up. And then the newer electronic systems might have trouble-shooting indicator lights that help to diagnose the problem.
Understanding how it works and some simple trouble-shooting techniques will help you determine whether the outage will be just a few hours or a few days; if not short you would then work with the tenant to see whether they need some electric space heaters or not (some already have their own).
We maintain 10 gas furnaces. Annual furnace servicing pays off in the long run. If you don't know how to do it yourself, set it up on a schedule with a good HVAC company. Significantly reduces the chance of furnace failure. When we do have a problem, our HVAC company will trouble shoot with us over the phone and will not charge if they don't have to come out. Of course we throw all our serious business their way. Gas furnaces actually have a very long lifespan if cared for.
Make sure the furnace filters are changed/cleaned regularly. We do this during our three month maintenance inspections, instead of leaving it to chance with the tenants. Also, make sure your tenants are not blocking the heat registers and cold air returns, or it will likely trip the safety and you will be getting the 2 a.m. call.
We made sure our leases address the tenant responsibility in this regard after purchasing a new property and learning the hard way. Yes it was a weekend. We got the "no heat" call and didn't know much about furnaces at the time. We panicked and called in the HVAC professional, only to find out the safety had tripped because the tenant had covered too many floor heat registers with boxes and thus obstructed the air flow. Move the boxes, reset the furnace. Five minutes, $50 bucks. Lesson learned.
Wednesday my daughter complained of a smell from the 3 year old Hi Effic furnace (& a/c we installed).
Both the blower motor & induction motor were gone (about $800 in parts).
Fortunately the parts were covered, (5 year warranty). But as a heads up make sure your HVAC guy gives you ALL the paperwork & that the new fce & A/C units are registered for warranty purposes. Because we had to have that & the exact recorded install date to get the warranty honored. (We write all this on the side of the furnace).
Problem is the 'new' parts are only warrantied for 12 months. So apart from a new circuit board she basically has a whole new fce (until the next time).
Also make sure your HVAC guy gives you a FREE followup on the a/c as by the time summer is here you make find it low on refrigerant because of the winter install. Should not happen but it does & that stuff is expensive.
Forgot to mention we spent 3 hours driving to two distantly located distributors for parts because of shortages. We also threw in a new capacitor ($2.75) as I figured the seized motor may have compromised it.
Glad you got this solved. For future reference, I've never put someone in a hotel. I need them to stay there so the pipes don't freeze. Space heaters will take the chill off along with boiling water on the stove.
I had a furnace break last year on a Saturday when it was 15 degrees out. I couldn't get a new furnace in until Monday. The tenant wanted to leave and go to his daughter's house. I told him that he was the captain of the ship and needed to hold down the fort. He had a space heater and boiled water. The house is small and never got below 65.
One thing that you might want to invest in is a propane torpedo heater. I have one that I heat my garage with when I'm working in it. In a pinch, it could be used to warm up a basement. I had a pipe freeze on a house last week and used it to heat the crawlspace. The pipe was thawed in about a half hour.
I would recommend propane over kerosene as it burns cleaner and you can get propane anywhere. Even at 7-Eleen at 3am.
@Jason Munck - Nice to hear your tenant dealt with the situation so well. That's always refreshing to hear.
@David Krulac - at my last home, the furnace came with the house - 1954. I replaced it in 2003 (that's 49 years for those doing the math in their heads). It actually still worked when we replaced it, just felt it was time for a new one. They sure don't make them like they used to!
I had a similar instance happen to one of my units in Chicago, only difference the power went out for the day. Act of God because the wind gust got up to 60 mph. My tenant voluntarily went to a family members for the night. If I was in your shoes I would look online for emergency hvac service it is a bit more like @brandon mentioned but well worth it. I always have the cell number of all my trades simply for reasons like this. Hope you get it all worked out.