We have this square gas furnace deal in our old house. It still has the fan working and all but the house will not stay warm. We shrink wrapped all the windows and stuffed towels under the doors. We need help quick. We cannot afford to pay someone and it is cold here in North Carolina. The piolet light is working and the clear little gas front lights up when it comes on............I really need help here. We are trying to take it apart to clean right now. The neigbor said two years ago was when it was last cranked and it did great. Any ideas folks. We need them. It is brown and it says warmmorring on the front. My guess is it at least twenty years young!!!!!!!and yes its getting gas....
you said hot air is blowing out? you are freezing but hot air is blowing out? well does the pilot light get bigger or does it just stay like 1 centimeter tall? if it does stay the same turn the knob to on. make sure its not on pilot! if it is turned to on then the big gas pipe valve (the valve that shoves more gas to the pilot when turned on) might be broken or the control knob is. or the fan might not be blowing fast
call the owner. i won't be able to help in case you gon't geve greater info. style call, style #, form of heater. Is it a gas or electric furnace, a heatpump, hydronic or steam boiler, radient floor or baseboard, or what?
Get some of those incense sticks that give off smoke. Go around the house and find the cold air coming in or the hot air going out by watching the smoke. Do you have hot air up near the ceiling? If not then check for leaks up there. Check for an attic door in a closet that may need additional insulation on top of it....or tape (Blue painters masking tape works great) it closed around the edges. Check the wall outlets for drafts. Have your neighbor take a look at it....
My first thought is that it's an old floor furnace. These types are built to only heat one room, usually the largest in the house (like the living room) and the heat had to creep into the rest of the home. This kind of furnace would be in the floor of that room. Now, if it's a more traditional forced air furnace in a basement or something, then something is clogging either the heat exchanger on the furnace itself, or the main duct leading out of the exchanger is clogged. A heat exchanger is just a box that sits above the burners of the furnace. When the furnace lites, the burners heat the box, which in turn heats the air in the box. When the air gets hot enough, a thermometer switch triggers the fan to blow the hot air through the ducts into the house... Clean your burners up the best you can (knock off soot and any build-up) and check the ducts closest to the furnace for clogs... Mice/Rat nests, anything that is keeping the air from circulating. Hope this helps!
