In the middle of finishing the underground electrical (remember we were completing that in October through mid-November) the weather forecast called for reality to hit Wisconsin and the super mild 60’s and 70’s to plummet to the 30’s and 40’s. So, it was finally time to bite the bullet and fire up the furnace.

Last year we had to fill-up with propane alarmingly often for keeping the house first at 60 degrees, and then at 55 to try and control our costs. A friend who is an HVAC contractor recommended that we disconnect the beast from the chimney. He explained that the draft caused by the chimney was pulling heat up even through the propane furnace was a direct vent furnace.

First we disconnected the monster from the chimney. So we pulled the flue out that lead to the chimney, and capped the hole in the chimney. We noticed a cobweb moving, the beast has a cracked heat exchanger, we could feel warm air exiting the old coal furnace’s flue connection without anything creating a draft. So, cap that too.

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Now to fire up the the LP furnace. It has 4 burners in the unit. In the little window Brad could see only 1 lighting. After fighting with the furnace for quite some time he punted and called the friend who is an HVAC contractor. Greg made a service call and ripped the thing apart. What he found was a very dirty, very rusted burner assembly. After a very thorough cleaning, he declared that the assembly was beyond saving. A new furnace has been in our plans. In-fact we thought we would have the new furnace in by now, but with all of the challenges of the year it just wasn’t in the cards. With October flying by and needing to remove the coal beast from the basement to access the duct work and tie a new furnace in properly, this was absolutely the wrong time of year to start such a project. Greg ordered a new burner assembly and returned with-in a week to install it. The burners not lighting explained why last winter we could smell propane every time the furnace ran (even though tests on the line said there were no leaks), propane was going in, not burning and being exhausted out! Hopefully the repair will make the LP furnace more fuel efficient this winter.

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