Home ownership "fun" never ends

[BoredSysAdmin]

Earlier this year, I replaced my central 16yo furnace and AC system for the FIRST floor (one in the basement). I was leaving another one for the SECOND floor (A-Coil and Furnace located in the attic as is, that one is also getting now on 17 years old - For a Goodman, brand it's not that bad apparently).

Guess what I hear around 1 am today? No not the sound of daylight time savings, not at all. I hear the sound of loud dripping. My 2nd-floor ceiling was leaking right where the attic furnace is located right above it. My attic furnace sprung a leak filling the water collector tub beneath it, but on inspection the tub wasn't even 1/4 full, so my house thoughtful builders decide to make a hole in it, I guess to prevent water overflow .

Now guess, how easy is it to find a reputable AC repair guy in NJ suburbia on Sundays? I've left my regular AC guy a voice mail. I Will have to WFH tomorrow and pray to the gods of Fire and Ice that he could visit us on Monday.

/rant

 

[Hetfield]

Earlier this year, I replaced my central 16yo furnace and AC system for the FIRST floor (one in the basement). I was leaving another one for the SECOND floor (A-Coil and Furnace located in the attic as is, that one is also getting now on 17 years old - For a Goodman, brand it's not that bad apparently).

Guess what I hear around 1 am today? No not the sound of daylight time savings, not at all. I hear the sound of loud dripping. My 2nd-floor ceiling was leaking right where the attic furnace is located right above it. My attic furnace sprung a leak filling the water collector tub beneath it, but on inspection the tub wasn't even 1/4 full, so my house thoughtful builders decide to make a hole in it, I guess to prevent water overflow .

Now guess, how easy is it to find a reputable AC repair guy in NJ suburbia on Sundays? I've left my regular AC guy a voice mail. I Will have to WFH tomorrow and pray to the gods of Fire and Ice that he could visit us on Monday.

/rant

Oh man water damage and issues are just the worst to deal with, not to mention very expensive. I feel terrible for you. Our hot water heater went a few years ago when we were living in an upstairs condo. Almost had a real bad mess on our hands. Thank God we had the NJ Natural gas protection plan.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

 

[highfigh]

Earlier this year, I replaced my central 16yo furnace and AC system for the FIRST floor (one in the basement). I was leaving another one for the SECOND floor (A-Coil and Furnace located in the attic as is, that one is also getting now on 17 years old - For a Goodman, brand it's not that bad apparently).

Guess what I hear around 1 am today? No not the sound of daylight time savings, not at all. I hear the sound of loud dripping. My 2nd-floor ceiling was leaking right where the attic furnace is located right above it. My attic furnace sprung a leak filling the water collector tub beneath it, but on inspection the tub wasn't even 1/4 full, so my house thoughtful builders decide to make a hole in it, I guess to prevent water overflow .

Now guess, how easy is it to find a reputable AC repair guy in NJ suburbia on Sundays? I've left my regular AC guy a voice mail. I Will have to WFH tomorrow and pray to the gods of Fire and Ice that he could visit us on Monday.

/rant

My furnaces are Goodman and one has been in place for about 20 years, the second was replaced a few years later. When I called around to get someone to check the installation of the first (I did that, just wanted to make sure it was OK), all I heard from the HVAC contractors was that Goodman was crap they use crap sheet metal, bad parts, the warranty sucks, etc. All, except one. He was perfectly willing to check it and I was happy to pay his price since I was able to see what he did. WRT the other comments, they're all BS. As far as the parts, they use Robert Shaw control boards, as do almost every other brands and the warranty has no holes in it- in fact, the source I used (Alpine Home Air) doubles the heat exchanger warranty to 20 years. They also have a contractor finder, for anyone who doesn't want to do it or finds themselves over their head.

I have replaced one part in the time since I bought these furnaces- the vacuum switch in the first furnace. Mine did the same thing (inducer started, ran for a while and stopped) but it wasn't the switch, it was the rubber line connecting the blower housing to the switch. Since their furnaces have a red LED status indicator, I was able to count the flashes, look at the sheet that's on the cover panel and check for the problem. I was going to check the switch, but the hose fell off, so I cut the end more cleanly and slid it on- still working, ten years later.

Check out the Alpine Home Air site and check the contractor finder.

 

[davidscott]

Thankfully I'm in a pretty new (2015) condo so most appliances are relatively new. I've been here a year and a half with zero issues so far (knock on wood)

 

[highfigh]

Thankfully I'm in a pretty new (2015) condo so most appliances are relatively new. I've been here a year and a half with zero issues so far (knock on wood)

Yeah, but how do you like your condo association?

 

[mtrycrafts]

Talk about breakage on Sundays.
Friday decided to replace the anode rod in water heater, not the first time in this heater, that was working for 13 years.
Turned on heater as only pilot light was on, not all the way off, nothing happened. tried repeatedly, nothing.
Discovered the gas heat controller thermostat part number on the heater, could not find it anywhere, not even the maker's website.

Saturday morning I tried and worked only to quit in a short time. Got a new heater at Home Depot.
What is outrageous is the price to have it installed as I decided to have a plumber do it in a hurry if possible not because I didn't know how.
Home Depot installer wanted $2000! just for installation. WOW, no way. Local plumber would have done it as owner bought heater for....$1200 installation.
Thanked him and ended to conversation.

Asked a good friend if he was in town to help with the lifting part. No, but offered his very handy wife how was in town. So, I picked the heater up at HD, she and I had it in place in an hour, removing the old and placing the new. The rest of the hookup I was able to do as this was the fifth water heater in this house in 28 years.
Cannot believe the labor charge they are asking for simple stuff.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Thankfully I'm in a pretty new (2015) condo so most appliances are relatively new. I've been here a year and a half with zero issues so far (knock on wood)

If you own the water heater, be sure to check the anode rod condition and replace as needed. I lost a few water heaters because I didn't check it yearly of every 2 years.
Yours may be 6 years old not, perhaps. Having a long warranty is not a guarantee nor they will replace it unless you can show frequent inspections and replacement of the rod. Just replace my 4th heater, last one was 13 years old but another issue not related to anode rod.

 

[davidscott]

If you own the water heater, be sure to check the anode rod condition and replace as needed. I lost a few water heaters because I didn't check it yearly of every 2 years.
Yours may be 6 years old not, perhaps. Having a long warranty is not a guarantee nor they will replace it unless you can show frequent inspections and replacement of the rod. Just replace my 4th heater, last one was 13 years old but another issue not related to anode rod.

Thanks for the tip yeah I bought the condo so I do own thw water heater.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

My furnaces are Goodman and one has been in place for about 20 years, the second was replaced a few years later. When I called around to get someone to check the installation of the first (I did that, just wanted to make sure it was OK), all I heard from the HVAC contractors was that Goodman was crap they use crap sheet metal, bad parts, the warranty sucks, etc. All, except one. He was perfectly willing to check it and I was happy to pay his price since I was able to see what he did. WRT the other comments, they're all BS. As far as the parts, they use Robert Shaw control boards, as do almost every other brands and the warranty has no holes in it- in fact, the source I used (Alpine Home Air) doubles the heat exchanger warranty to 20 years. They also have a contractor finder, for anyone who doesn't want to do it or finds themselves over their head.

I have replaced one part in the time since I bought these furnaces- the vacuum switch in the first furnace. Mine did the same thing (inducer started, ran for a while and stopped) but it wasn't the switch, it was the rubber line connecting the blower housing to the switch. Since their furnaces have a red LED status indicator, I was able to count the flashes, look at the sheet that's on the cover panel and check for the problem. I was going to check the switch, but the hose fell off, so I cut the end more cleanly and slid it on- still working, ten years later.

Check out the Alpine Home Air site and check the contractor finder.

Both could be true since they might have used higher quality parts/designs in the past but switched to more cost-optimized (read crappy and cheap) parts later on.
My current goal isn't to rip and replace like I had to do with my basement system (long story why) but to repair this one and hopefully, the repair isn't going to be too expensive.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Thanks for the tip yeah I bought the condo so I do own thw water heater.

If you have the manual for it look to see if there is an explanation how to replace the rod.
If not, go to the makers web site and see if there is a manual that would also indicate the length of the rod as there are a few
sizes.
If not, give them a call and talk to their tech rep for part number and instructions how to. Not too difficult at all if you are handy, except
for getting the rod unscrewed. If it is a hex head, usually it is 1 1/16". Tight as can be. If you have impact driver, get the impact socket, usually black.
If not, you need a long armed socket handle.
All this if you want to do your own.
I just cannot believe how much they wanted to install mine.

 

[TLS Guy]

When it is time to replace a water heater, consider going tankless. I had a Navien unit installed. It can heat 12 gallons per minute. They are a little more expensive, however they use less fuel, and last longer. In addition they take little space, and no floor space.

The have not installed tank type water heaters in Europe for a long time, until recently they are making people use heat pumps, which do require a tank.

 

[lovinthehd]

Ouch, wish you luck in your repairs....

 

[Kvn_Walker]

When it is time to replace a water heater, consider going tankless. I had a Navien unit installed. It can heat 12 gallons per minute. They are a little more expensive, however they use less fuel, and last longer. In addition they take little space, and no floor space.

The have not installed tank type water heaters in Europe for a long time, until recently they are making people use heat pumps, which do require a tank.

I've been thinking about proactively replacing mine with a tankless instead of waiting for it to fail. I need to get some quotes.

 

[davidscott]

When it is time to replace a water heater, consider going tankless. I had a Navien unit installed. It can heat 12 gallons per minute. They are a little more expensive, however they use less fuel, and last longer. In addition they take little space, and no floor space.

The have not installed tank type water heaters in Europe for a long time, until recently they are making people use heat pumps, which do require a tank.

I've heard that about tankless also. I will definitely
check out tankless when the time comes

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Welp, here's Monday. Still trying to get hold of my ac guy. For more news, my Maytag fridge decided to break down and my dishwater's controls start button began to nearly unusable.

 

[panteragstk]

Talk about breakage on Sundays.
Friday decided to replace the anode rod in water heater, not the first time in this heater, that was working for 13 years.
Turned on heater as only pilot light was on, not all the way off, nothing happened. tried repeatedly, nothing.
Discovered the gas heat controller thermostat part number on the heater, could not find it anywhere, not even the maker's website.

Saturday morning I tried and worked only to quit in a short time. Got a new heater at Home Depot.
What is outrageous is the price to have it installed as I decided to have a plumber do it in a hurry if possible not because I didn't know how.
Home Depot installer wanted $2000! just for installation. WOW, no way. Local plumber would have done it as owner bought heater for....$1200 installation.
Thanked him and ended to conversation.

Asked a good friend if he was in town to help with the lifting part. No, but offered his very handy wife how was in town. So, I picked the heater up at HD, she and I had it in place in an hour, removing the old and placing the new. The rest of the hookup I was able to do as this was the fifth water heater in this house in 28 years.
Cannot believe the labor charge they are asking for simple stuff.

Gotta get permits in TX to do that sort of thing. Lucky for me my brother in law is a plumber.

 

[panteragstk]

Welp, here's Monday. Still trying to get hold of my ac guy. For more news, my Maytag fridge decided to break down and my dishwater's controls start button began to nearly unusable.

Geeze dude. When it rains it pours. Keep us posted on whatever happens.

 

[highfigh]

Talk about breakage on Sundays.
Friday decided to replace the anode rod in water heater, not the first time in this heater, that was working for 13 years.
Turned on heater as only pilot light was on, not all the way off, nothing happened. tried repeatedly, nothing.
Discovered the gas heat controller thermostat part number on the heater, could not find it anywhere, not even the maker's website.

Saturday morning I tried and worked only to quit in a short time. Got a new heater at Home Depot.
What is outrageous is the price to have it installed as I decided to have a plumber do it in a hurry if possible not because I didn't know how.
Home Depot installer wanted $2000! just for installation. WOW, no way. Local plumber would have done it as owner bought heater for....$1200 installation.
Thanked him and ended to conversation.

Asked a good friend if he was in town to help with the lifting part. No, but offered his very handy wife how was in town. So, I picked the heater up at HD, she and I had it in place in an hour, removing the old and placing the new. The rest of the hookup I was able to do as this was the fifth water heater in this house in 28 years.
Cannot believe the labor charge they are asking for simple stuff.

They didn't have much business when everything was shut down, so they seem to think they can make it up in the first few months after re-starting. Did you ask for a better price?

MKE had a huge rain in '97 and the sewers couldn't handle the runoff because some of the storm and septic sewers are still combined, so basements flooded badly. My friends owned a duplex and their basement had close to 3' of water, which wasn't nearly as bad as some who were on lower ground, but it still sucked. The day after the rain, people were going door to door, offering their services. As usual, they were capitalizing on a disaster to gouge people on the price, then move on to the next disaster. He said he would install each water heater for $1200 and told the wife that if they were left in place, they could "go off like a rocket". I said I would do it for $900 as a joke because my friend & I both know it's not difficult to do.

The price for water heaters is insane. In '97, those water heaters (Richmond, from Menard's) cost about $159 and now, it's about $440, which is far more than just inflation would cause and there's not that much going on in these that any technology would raise the price so much, even if the warranty is longer. I get that some may have a circulation pump, but the basic ones have three connections- gas, cold water and hot water.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Geeze dude. When it rains it pours. Keep us posted on whatever happens.

at least got a hold of the appliance repair guy and he should come in a few hours to fix the fridge. The dude is extremely experienced and fairly charges for his service.

 

[highfigh]

Both could be true since they might have used higher quality parts/designs in the past but switched to more cost-optimized (read crappy and cheap) parts later on.
My current goal isn't to rip and replace like I had to do with my basement system (long story why) but to repair this one and hopefully, the repair isn't going to be too expensive.

Look for troubleshooting on YouTube and the manufacturer's website, searching for your model and look for a sheet of paper on hte inside of the cove panel for the light flashes WRT trouble codes. YouTube reminded me about the light flashes and the whole repair for the second one took five minutes because I didn't need any parts. The first wasn't bad, either- we have a place that sells parts and I paid over the phone 20 minutes before closing. The guy at the store offered to place it in their dumpster for my because it was unlikely that I would be there before in time. I think I set a record for getting there, even though I wasn't speeding.