Monday, November 24, 2008

Gremlins, (or, Am I going CRAZY ?????)

Here Is the Question!!!!! Well let me explain somethings 1ST then I'll pose the question. We seem to be being tested all the time by the House. We never cut corners when working on the house or purchasing equipment for the house. (Never, never, never!) We have 3 heating systems in the house, one an automatic system (Propane system) and two that require that you be home and manage the heat sytem.....(I.E. Putting wood into the wood stove or Pellets into the pellet stove every 24 hrs .) All of the heating systems are new in the house since about 2004 ( pellet stove 04, wood stove 05, propane system 06). The propane is our main system and it turns on and shuts off as heat is needed. The same type that most people would have in the house. When we are home we use both systems , pellet stove and propane system.. House stays toasty !!! Seems infallable right? The propane system was installed by a contractor here in the area and the unit is a Carrier heating and Air conditioning unit . Last winter the propane unit failed one time due to a small part..an igniter like is used on you Bar-b-Q. That was replaced and propelled us to take out a service contract from the company that installed the heating unit (so that we had a service plan and that we would not pay HUGE Emergency Repair fee's when and/or if the system ever failed over the winter. We have had heat going here off an on since Sept.. Both the pellet stove, the main system and the propane system. NO PROBLEMS! I thought I had it all set up for success. As we were going to be away from the house over the weekend (I love you Nicole!) I had a friend stop by and check that the heat is working (Dan the Bee Guy - you rock buddy!) ( should be no problem as it was a new system in 06 - I got it covered!) 6 Hrs before we arrive home the friend checks on the house and finds that it feels warm inside. All appears to be fine, maybe a little cool at about 60 degrees. . . We arrive home 6 hrs later , it's 14 degrees outside and when I walk in the door I find that our propane system picks this time to fail......No, it didn't fail while we are home since system started working in Sept. IT FAILS WHILE WE ARE AWAY - MY BIGGEST FEAR!!!!! The house is at about 44 Degrees and the crawl space is getting close to the Freezing temp. of 32 Degrees. OMG! I think I might snap! I planned for this! Paid for this! Dreaded this! We fire up the pellet stove and bring inside of the house up to a comfortable temp. after a short time, I'm on the phone Sunday night with our Propane heat contractor, our service company. A message is left with the company and they will call back at some point...they do call back and I'm advised ,.......It's going to be a awhile as he has some other calls, it's Sunday night and of course it's cold out so everyone wants heat! (Hence my sense of frustration). We do talk about the heat failure over the phone and this state of the art heating system does give "Codes" much like you car does when it fails in an attempt to tell you what the computer is seeing and why it failed. The Codes are a series of flashing L.E.D. lights. I count the flashes it makes and tell the repair guy... He seems to know what it is and has me shut down the system power then power up it after a short wait, like rebooting your computer. I do that and it reboots , heat now returns and new warm life is starting to blow through our forced hot air system, the crawl space is also starting to warm up due to radiant heat from the vent pipes passing thru the crawl space on its way to other parts of the house. Here's the Question!!!! Why after doing all the right things does the system fail not when we are Home and can address the problem????? Why????? The problem also continues thru the night I forgot to tell you and I keep doing that manual reboot and all works until temp. reaches what the thermostat is set at and it shuts down but fails to restart without my help of rebooting. What causes those Gremlins to appear while we are away? Why???? I NEED TO KNOW! This morning the heating contractor will be here to read the "CODES" and fix the system and we will be warm again...... My Questions for the Heating and Plumbing Company- How do I trust the system when we leave again??? It's new in 06.... Works most of the time unless "it" knows we are away... then the Gremlins returns. As I type the system has Failed !!!! The L.E.D Lights are flashing a "New Code" and we await the heating repair company, We are not re-booting yet so that the repair guy can see the Codes. Read this code Pal: Pissed Off Client! Let me add to this, New used truck , trany failed within 30 days, new washer failed within 60 days, refrigerator new in 04 fails, underground service,power lines fail! Did I mention the septic system fiasco? Nevermind. You want Gremlins????? I got Gremlins!!! Oh by the way, we had a fantastic weekend and I am so proud of my baby girl! You all Have a good day. By tomorrow I will be Calmer, Happier, and I may go hunting. Then I can shoot something. Anything. God I love guns.

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