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Heater (using natural gas) problem. Help me decide

W

wizzz

Senior member
The heater at my house uses natural gas for its heating.
It's actually a heating & cooling system where it uses electricity for cooling only and natural gas for heating.

However, the heater has stopped working today.
When I turn it on all I get is cold air. Not hot air!

And this heater is the ONLY appliance in the household that uses natural gas.
So I have no way of finding out if there's a problem with the natural gas provider or if the heater just broke down.

I tried calling my gas provider but they are closed for today.

It's freezing in here and I have no idea what to do about it.
Is there a way to check to see if the problem is with the heater or the gas provider?
Also, if the problem is with the heater how much would it cost to replace it?

 
Gas appliance should only be serviced by a professional. There has got to be service people on call at the local Heating and AC service center 24 hours a day.
 
Thanks for the info. I wasn't aware of that.
However, I do not trust these local service centers as I have had numerous bad experiences with
these small companies. Most of these small centers do not get much business so they always try to rip you off..

I searched around the net and Sears seem to be the big company that I favor.
Anybody have any experience with Sears home service?

Also, will a homeowners policy cover replacing heating appliances?
I read the whole policy and it never specifically talks about appliances but it does cover personal properties. Would an appliance fall under the personal property category?
I should ask this to my insurance comp. but they are also closed for today.

 
I don't think your home owners insurance will apply to this problem.

I've had horrible experiences with Sears, but that is me. I prefer my local small business and have had superb results with their service and price.
 
How much should I be looking to spend to fix the heater? (labor + parts)
It's a really old one and I guess it has broken down. So I might need to replace it.

 
I called quite a few service centers today and all of them required anywhere between $60-$100 fee
just to diagnose the problem.

And if I decide to get it fixed, then the diagnostic fee will be taken off the parts + labor required to repair the heating system.

The fee was too high for me so I decided not to get it fixed.
Maybe next year when I get some cash flowing.. But not this year because my belt is tight already.

So I was thinking of buying one of these small heaters for this winter.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=1943141&cat=92523&type=1&dept=4044


Anybody have any experience using these type of heaters?


Should I buy an electric heater (like the one above) or a radiator heater that uses oil like this one?
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=894525&cat=4863&type=1&dept=4044


Any help would be appreciated.
 
How big is your place? I would go to your local home store (Home Depot, Lowes, etc) and look into getting a kerosene heater. The little electric heaters cost quite a bit to run, but kerosene heaters don't. They put out a TON of heat too. You just have to buy kerosene on a regular basis.

Ryan
 
How old is 'really old' ? Is there a 3-position black knob (on - off - pilot) on a control box mounted on the heater? If so, take off the cover of the heater near that control box (usually slides up, then out) and look inside to see if there is a pilot light. If not, then follow the thinnest metal gasline going from the control box into the heater and where it ends is where you want to light it. You need to put the knob into the pilot position and push down, light the pilot and hold down the knob for 30 seconds. When you let go, the pilot should remain lit. If it does, then turn the knob to 'on'.

If there is a pilot light when you open the cover, then it could be a bad thermocouple. Thats the thing that the flame of the pilot light makes hot and tells the heater its okay to send full gas to heat up the air.
 
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