I need someone to fix my heater (yes, it's damn cold lol) and my guy is currently out of the country. Anyone know of a GOOD person/company that could fix it w/o asking for my unborn child and all my worldly possessions as a fee?

Thanks,
~Ramy

 

James Low- 301-802-5767

Simply bad ***-- very honest and won't try to sell you a furnace..

He is usually busy..

 

What's it doing or not doing?

I can have a look at it. I'm kinda handy.

 

Thanks Deep. I'll give him a call tomorrow.

Pele, the fan that must engage for the heater to engage became too difficult for the starter to move...for a few days I would just manually get it spinning then connect the circuit, and the starter would take over...and it would keep spinning (and as such the heat would keep working) for about 2 days, until it would eventually come to a stop again. And I'd repeat the process over. This lasted about 2 weeks (I simply didn't have time to deal w/ it). Now, the starter can't even keep the fan going even after I've got the fan in motion. No fan motion = no heat. So it's REALLY cold over here lol. I dunno if it's as simple as the fan needing lubrication, or if something needs replacing, but I bet ya the starter's now on it's way out too... =-/

~Ramy

 

I'm assuming this is a forced air type heat that runs on natural gas.

Is this the really large squirrel cage fan that blows air to the rest of the house, or a smaller fan that just adds air to the fire.

Sometimes on the motor, there's oil ports. (Should be oiled once or twice a year if there are.)

When you spin the fan manually, does it have a good bit of resistance like a stiff bearing? (It should spin freely.)

I'd replace the fan/motor. It shouldn't cost much. (Then again, it's one of those things that isn't much, but when you don't have one, it's everything.)

Good luck.

 

Deep, you're the freakin man. I called him Thursday morning, and he managed to come by Thursday evening! A few hours later, he had me up and running, and by night time, the house was nice and warm again And you're right, the guy is awesome. Very nice, very knowledgeable. He even spent time looking at the rest of my system, and giving me tips how to keep it in tip top condition! Thanks again for the awesome recommendation!

~Ramy

 

What ended up being the problem?

 

The fan motor was going bad... El-cheapo construction company for our house had used a 1/2 hp motor with a 5 Farad Capacitor. For 1/2 hp motors, you *should* be using 10 Farad capacitors. That, and a 1/2 hp motor is *barely* enough. With condensation, some dust and dirt accumulates on the fan, the fan becomes a wee bit heavier, and all of a sudden, 1/2 hp becomes not enough. So the motor starts to wear quickly. He set me up w/ a 1 hp motor and a 20 Farad capacitor. Smooth as gravy

~Ramy

 

NP Ramy..

He is good and he told me that---he has never spent a dollar on advertisement.

 

Yep...he told me the same. All his business is by referral. I think that says a LOT.