Question

Gas furnace blows cold air continuously

Asked by: chernavsky

I have a natural gas furnace made by Heil. The model number is NTC6075FBA1. The serial number is L984120332.

A few times over the past year, I've noticed the furnace blowing cold air constantly. I "solved" the problem by shutting off the furnace via the circuit breaker, and then turning it on again a few hours later. Unfortunately, this method doesn't work anymore.

The furnace constantly blows cold air, and the heat never comes on. The thermostat was an old-fashioned dial-type model. I replaced it with a modern electronic thermostat made by Honeywell. Didn't make any difference. Changing the temperature-setting on the thermostat has no effect.

When I take off the upper panel of the furnace while it's blowing, it looks to me like there is a pilot light burning. But I don't know anything about furnaces, so I don't know what else to look for.

The house is getting cold, and I can't really afford to get a repairman right now. Thanks in advance for considering this question.

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2009-11-01 at 07:56:33ID24861909
Tags

furnace

,

heating

,

hvac

,

home

,

appliances

Topic

Miscellaneous

Participating Experts
3
Points
200
Comments
6

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. Server Room Air Conditioning
    Hi Guys, I am working with a client who is moving to a brand new building. They have budgeted and designed a server room, which is only small 3 metres by 4 metres and will hold just 1 rack of servers. The thing is, the main building air con unit shuts down over the weekend...
  2. Air flow
    I have a computer that freezes lest the side of the case is removed. It has a blowhole, with a fan, at the top, blowing air out of the case. It has 2 fans in the front sucking in air. It has 2 fans in the rear blowing out air. One fan on the side sucking in air. It has o...
  3. Server Room Air Conditioning
    Hi, Need some advice on server room cooling. We are partitioning an area for a server room in one of the offices. The area will be around 10 foot square. One wall is to the outside with a fire exit. There is an electronic skylight which can open / close by switch. The o...
  4. What is the average temperature of Freon in an automobile …
    What is the average temperature of Freon in an automobile air conditioning system after it is compressed by the compressor? Also what is the average temperature of Freon before it reaches the evaporator. Thank you.

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: chernavskyPosted on 2009-11-01 at 07:57:09ID: 25714118

Increased point value

 

by: nickg5Posted on 2009-11-01 at 11:46:43ID: 25715099

If you have a pilot light but no hot air, you'd likely smell gas, the gas not getting to your pilot light to ignite the thing-a-ma-gig that sends out the heat. I'll ask someone about this.

 

by: MidnightOnePosted on 2009-11-01 at 12:58:50ID: 25715442

Sight unseen, I'd say the gas feed nipples of your furnace are in need of cleaning or replacement. There's no way around having to call someone who knows what they're doing.

 

by: nickg5Posted on 2009-11-01 at 13:48:32ID: 25715721

http://www.heatpro.us/service/ignitor.htm
Flame sensors or pressure sensor's could be your problem source.

 

by: chernavskyPosted on 2009-11-02 at 05:25:33ID: 25719038

Thanks for the suggestions.  I opened the panel, jiggled all the wires around, cleaned the area a bit, and reseated some of the connections.  After I did that, the furnace started working properly.

However, I'm still concerned that this problem will recur in the middle of February during sub-arctic temperatures, so I think I'll have to bring in a repairman at some point, anyway.

 

by: rgautierPosted on 2010-01-16 at 07:23:57ID: 26330979

It sounds like the electrical contacts may need to be cleaned or re-seated.  The thermostat makes the decision to turn on the feed to the furnace, and sends the signal to the unit.  By your description, you have loose contacts at the furnace.  Follow the thermostat wires to where they connect on the unit.  They may be rusty or worn.  Depending on the type of connection, they could be soldered, or be connected via a clip of some sort.  You can clean contacts with a pencil eraser, and you can crimp contacts with a needle-nose plier to make the connections seat tighter.  

If it's soldered, you may have broken solder balls, which you'd need to remove the old solder and reconnect with a soldering iron and new solder.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...