It\u2019s funny how the smallest things can cause such problems. I woke up on Sunday morning, expecting another uneventful day. Maybe I would finally get around to tearing out that sheet rock around the shower head and figuring out what\u2019s wrong there. Unfortunately, the furnace had other ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Before we get there, though, it\u2019s probably instructive to share something. I have what is apparently a freakishly unusual sensitivity to the sounds made by machines. I often don\u2019t feel completely comfortable in a place until I at least have some idea what is making all the sounds. Here at the house, I can identify pretty much every sound (along with the purpose of the device making it). On more than one occasion, Amy has witnessed me wandering into the computer room from across the house and sticking my head around various places with a puzzled look on my face. When she gives in and asks what I\u2019m doing, the answer is something like, \u201cOne of the fans buried in one of these computers is about to go out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, here\u2019s a trip through the routine that goes through Jeff\u2019s mind several times a day:
\u201cclick\u201d: thermostat asks the furnace to come on
\u201cwhir\u201d: furnace combustion blower spins up
\u201crumble\u201d: gas burners light
\u201cwhoosh\u201d: circulation blower is moving warm air through the system and the house<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Early Sunday morning, I heard \u201cclick\u201d, \u201cwhir\u201d, \u201crumble\u201d, but then \u201crumble\u201d went away. Several seconds later, \u201crumble\u201d came back, then it went away again. Finally \u201cwhoosh\u201d showed up, but the air wasn\u2019t warm. Great. So, there it was a Sunday morning (when I couldn\u2019t call to get it fixed without spending a bundle), and the furnace was acting up. Better than that, it was the morning before the night that it was supposed to be 16 degrees F (-9 degrees C). I could hear the pipes begging for mercy already (not to mention the cats).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, I hauled my butt up into the attic (which involved the Dance of the Cars in the Garage\u2122). Of course, by the time I got up there and got the panel off, it was working great. I nosed around a little bit with the multimeter, but I wasn\u2019t going to be able to find anything unless I saw it happen. So, I came back down. Noticing that I\u2019d been criminally negligent in not replacing the filter lately, I did that next, hoping maybe that was causing the over-temperature sensor to trip. No more problems until that night. I got my hopes up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n