So I made the appointment for the heater/AC guy to look at my heater. He’s coming in a couple days. So being emboldened by the fact that if I break anything else, someone was on his way to come fix it anyway, I delved deeper into the recesses of my central heat/AC unit…
Since the fan wasn’t turning off, I decided to check the fan control circuit board… and lo and behold, I think I found the problem…
If you look over that red box-looking thing, you’ll see some nasty greenish matter. That is oxidation (Joann, this is what I suspect is in your iPod shuffle somewhere). And what it did was eat clean through one of the leads of the closest resistor (directly above it). I know this because when I touched it, it moved… (compare with the next picture where I turned it).
Yep, that would do it… but now I’m faced with a dilemma…
I looked online and found the part I could order for a new fan control circuit board… for around $200. It would be moderately easy to install myself.
OR I could simply replace the resistor for a mere 36 cents, even though that would involve removing the board, soldering, and crossing my fingers that I’m not doing something that could potentially destroy my house.
The safe thing would be to let the repair guy do it… and charge me $89 to come out, plus $30 for every 15 minutes he’s here, plus the cost of the part, plus the risk of having the guy attempt to ream me for other things thinking I know nothing about this stuff… So in the end, I’m predicting it will cost over $500 for the job.
Sigh… a part of me wishes I didn’t find this. Somebody make me feel better about not trying to do this myself…
Oh, someone remind me to have the guy leave me the old part… as a spare, I guess.
UPDATE:
Well, the guy just came and left. He agreed with me that it was the board that is causing the problem. They have to the order the part – $180, and come back to install it. So he spent a total of 15 minutes here and charged me $89. I’m in the wrong line of work.
don’t forget the spare part
If I were you, I would have the repair guy do it. Better safe than sorry…plus, if you know what’s wrong, the chances of him taking advantage of you are small, and if it is a fairly easy job, it won’t take as long to fix as you predict which means that the $500 is a great over-estimation. But those are just my thoughts.
P.S. Don’t forget the spare part.
get the repair guy to do it….b/c if he does something wrong and your house blows up, you have someone to blame/sue. hehe.
btw, don’t forget the spare part.
your xanga is becoming more … pedantic. even the pictures are not so fun. so 0 eProp to you. and I am 18 here. I am 18. 18. 18…..
Better have him do it
Dude! Destroy your house? I think not. These are not high-wattage components. There’s no down-side here. Either it will work or it won’t. Even assuming you don’t know one end of a soldering iron from the other, it’s like you said in the first paragraph, the man is on his way.
Take good pictures, label the wires, remove the board. Buff it with fine Scotchbrite and go to it.
When you’re done you need to seal it with something.
http://www.mediacollege.com/misc/solder/
The home improvement continues… or at least the repair and hope does. Pay for it. Never mind saving the part… it’ll just cause clutter.
How come all ur entries are about home improvement?
I totally love meeting people that have a strong troubleshooting ability… being in IT Hardware/Networking, and having worked as a manager for a major company, I realized long ago… that I can not teach someone troubleshooting skills, as they say… “some gums got it, some gums don’t”… in other words great job using your troubleshooting ability… personally I would have replaced the part… the damage to your house can never be any greater that the failure of the board itself and knowing that the resister is bad to me could have fixed the board or verified that there was another issue that caused that resister to fail… and there are several safety factors built into a furnace to keep it form overheating…
But on the other hand… I have been wrong… so either way… you have the satisfaction of knowing that you found something that most furnace repair guys would never have found… they do not think to that detail…
Hay… as a fellow believer I would love to hear your thoughts on my post on Gluttony… if you have time, check it out and let me know what you think…
Thanks Tim
ps… I just read the comment three up… if I am not mistaken that part of the furnace is a 24 volt system… but like I said… I have been wrong before (my attempt at a disclaimer… pss I like your watch… Fossil=smart and money to spend / Movado=less smart and broke