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Default Home heating / furnace help

Hi

I know nothing about furnaces but something about the way my furnace
works doesnt makes sense to me and I was wondering if someone could
give me an explanation...

I have a Carrier Weathermaker 8000 58WAV furnace. It blows air
continuously. From visual inspection it looks like it draws air from
the basement. It cycles between warm and cool air. The problem is
where I live in the winter it gets extremely cold(can get as cold as
minus 40 degrees). The house is very old and the basement is very
cold. So the furnace cycles between very warm and very cold air which
is very uncomfortable and I can't imagine it being very efficient. Is
this a normal setup for a furnace? This is my 1st home and Ive only
lived here for 1 winter so I know very little about this stuff. I
remember my parents furnace didnt blow air continously. It only blew
air on the warm cycle. That seems to make much more sense to me than
cycling between very cold and warm air.

Thanks in advance for any insight

Dennis
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Default Home heating / furnace help

Furnace Guy wrote:

On Sat, 9 Feb 2008 21:35:21 -0800 (PST), wrote:


Hi

I know nothing about furnaces but something about the way my furnace
works doesnt makes sense to me and I was wondering if someone could
give me an explanation...

I have a Carrier Weathermaker 8000 58WAV furnace. It blows air
continuously. From visual inspection it looks like it draws air from
the basement. It cycles between warm and cool air. The problem is
where I live in the winter it gets extremely cold(can get as cold as
minus 40 degrees). The house is very old and the basement is very
cold. So the furnace cycles between very warm and very cold air which
is very uncomfortable and I can't imagine it being very efficient. Is
this a normal setup for a furnace? This is my 1st home and Ive only
lived here for 1 winter so I know very little about this stuff. I
remember my parents furnace didnt blow air continously. It only blew
air on the warm cycle. That seems to make much more sense to me than
cycling between very cold and warm air.

Thanks in advance for any insight

Dennis



You need to watch what the furnace does. Sounds like it's cycling on
the high limit switch (meaning the burners fire, the system over
heats, the burners goe off on the limit switch, the blower stays on,
the furnace cools of, the furnace fires, repeat cycle.). make sure you
filter is clean and ALL of your vents are open.


Hi,
Or simply filter could be so dirty it is restricting air flow tripping
high limit sensor.
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Default Home heating / furnace help

On Feb 9, 10:56*pm, Furnace Guy wrote:
On Sat, 9 Feb 2008 21:35:21 -0800 (PST), wrote:
Hi


I know nothing about furnaces but something about the way my furnace
works doesnt makes sense to me and I was wondering if someone could
give me an explanation...


I have a Carrier Weathermaker 8000 58WAV furnace. It blows air
continuously. From visual inspection it looks like it draws air from
the basement. It cycles between warm and cool air. The problem is
where I live in the winter it gets extremely cold(can get as cold as
minus 40 degrees). The house is very old and the basement is very
cold. *So the furnace cycles between very warm and very cold air which
is very uncomfortable and I can't imagine it being very efficient. Is
this a normal setup for a furnace? This is my 1st home and Ive only
lived here for 1 winter so I know very little about this stuff. I
remember my parents furnace didnt blow air continously. It only blew
air on the warm cycle. That seems to make much more sense to me than
cycling between very cold and warm air.


Thanks in advance for any insight


Dennis


You need to watch what the furnace does. Sounds like it's cycling on
the high limit switch (meaning the burners fire, the system over
heats, the burners goe off on the limit switch, the blower stays on,
the furnace cools of, the furnace fires, repeat cycle.). make sure you
filter is clean and ALL of your vents are open.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


Thanks for the quick reply!

I think the furnace is operating properly. Maybe I wasnt specific
enough about its operation.

If the house is warm the furnace blows cool air. Once the temperature
drops below the set thermostat level the blower stops for a short
time(seconds). Then the furnace ignites. Then blower comes back on and
blows warm air until the house is heated. It was my limited
understanding that this is how newer furnaces work. They have a
continous airflow(well almost continous..theres a short break just
before ignition). This makes sense to me for summer operation. The
house can be somewhat cooled by drawing cool air from the basement and
circulating it. It doesnt make sense in the winter.

The filter is new. I replace it every few months.


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Default Home heating / furnace help

On Feb 9, 11:07*pm, Tony Hwang wrote:
Furnace Guy wrote:
On Sat, 9 Feb 2008 21:35:21 -0800 (PST), wrote:


Hi


I know nothing about furnaces but something about the way my furnace
works doesnt makes sense to me and I was wondering if someone could
give me an explanation...


I have a Carrier Weathermaker 8000 58WAV furnace. It blows air
continuously. From visual inspection it looks like it draws air from
the basement. It cycles between warm and cool air. The problem is
where I live in the winter it gets extremely cold(can get as cold as
minus 40 degrees). The house is very old and the basement is very
cold. *So the furnace cycles between very warm and very cold air which
is very uncomfortable and I can't imagine it being very efficient. Is
this a normal setup for a furnace? This is my 1st home and Ive only
lived here for 1 winter so I know very little about this stuff. I
remember my parents furnace didnt blow air continously. It only blew
air on the warm cycle. That seems to make much more sense to me than
cycling between very cold and warm air.


Thanks in advance for any insight


Dennis


You need to watch what the furnace does. Sounds like it's cycling on
the high limit switch (meaning the burners fire, the system over
heats, the burners goe off on the limit switch, the blower stays on,
the furnace cools of, the furnace fires, repeat cycle.). make sure you
filter is clean and ALL of your vents are open.


Hi,
Or simply filter could be so dirty it is restricting air flow tripping
high limit sensor.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


Hi Tony

The filter is new.


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Default Home heating / furnace help

On Feb 9, 10:35*pm, wrote:
Hi

I know nothing about furnaces but something about the way my furnace
works doesnt makes sense to me and I was wondering if someone could
give me an explanation...

I have a Carrier Weathermaker 8000 58WAV furnace. It blows air
continuously. From visual inspection it looks like it draws air from
the basement. It cycles between warm and cool air. The problem is
where I live in the winter it gets extremely cold(can get as cold as
minus 40 degrees). The house is very old and the basement is very
cold. *So the furnace cycles between very warm and very cold air which
is very uncomfortable and I can't imagine it being very efficient. Is
this a normal setup for a furnace? This is my 1st home and Ive only
lived here for 1 winter so I know very little about this stuff. I
remember my parents furnace didnt blow air continously. It only blew
air on the warm cycle. That seems to make much more sense to me than
cycling between very cold and warm air.

Thanks in advance for any insight

Dennis


After doing some digging around it would seem that some furnaces have
two modes...Fan "On" and "Auto". Theres no mention of it in the
furnace manual but Im starting to suspect my furnace has this option
that can be set from the thermostat. The problem is my thermostat is
one of those old kind with the mercury tube in it. No fan settings.
Maybe the previous owner upgraded the furnace but not the thermostat.
There's only two wires travelling from the furnace to the thermostat
so even if I had a newer thermostat with a fan setting, there arent an
fan wires to connect it too. Is it possible my furnace is stuck in
"ON" mode?

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Default Home heating / furnace help

On Feb 10, 2:30*am, wrote:
On Feb 9, 10:35*pm, wrote:





Hi


I know nothing about furnaces but something about the way my furnace
works doesnt makes sense to me and I was wondering if someone could
give me an explanation...


I have a Carrier Weathermaker 8000 58WAV furnace. It blows air
continuously. From visual inspection it looks like it draws air from
the basement. It cycles between warm and cool air. The problem is
where I live in the winter it gets extremely cold(can get as cold as
minus 40 degrees). The house is very old and the basement is very
cold. *So the furnace cycles between very warm and very cold air which
is very uncomfortable and I can't imagine it being very efficient. Is
this a normal setup for a furnace? This is my 1st home and Ive only
lived here for 1 winter so I know very little about this stuff. I
remember my parents furnace didnt blow air continously. It only blew
air on the warm cycle. That seems to make much more sense to me than
cycling between very cold and warm air.


Thanks in advance for any insight


Dennis


After doing some digging around it would seem that some furnaces have
two modes...Fan "On" and "Auto". Theres no mention of it in the
furnace manual but Im starting to suspect my furnace has this option
that can be set from the thermostat. The problem is my thermostat is
one of those old kind with the mercury tube in it. No fan settings.
Maybe the previous owner upgraded the furnace but not the thermostat.
There's only two wires travelling from the furnace to the thermostat
so even if I had a newer thermostat with a fan setting, there arent an
fan wires to connect it too. Is it possible my furnace is stuck in
"ON" mode?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


That' what it sounds like. Normally, there is a switch setting on
the thermostat to set the blower to either auto or on. Since your
thermostat only has two wires and no such switch, it sounds like the
furnace itself is wired for the blower to be on all the time.
Personally, I would not want it set up that way. Most are set for
the blower to come on only when heat is being delivered. With an
older furnace and conventional blower, this is going to consume a lot
of electricity. Newer high efficiency blowers it would use a lot
less, but still will add up run 24/7.

Regarding sucking air from the basement, what makes you think it's set
up that way? There should be return ducts going to the living space
that bring that air to the suction side of the blower.
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Default Home heating / furnace help

On Feb 10, 2:30 am, wrote:
On Feb 9, 10:35 pm, wrote:



Hi


I know nothing about furnaces but something about the way my furnace
works doesnt makes sense to me and I was wondering if someone could
give me an explanation...


I have a Carrier Weathermaker 8000 58WAV furnace. It blows air
continuously. From visual inspection it looks like it draws air from
the basement. It cycles between warm and cool air. The problem is
where I live in the winter it gets extremely cold(can get as cold as
minus 40 degrees). The house is very old and the basement is very
cold. So the furnace cycles between very warm and very cold air which
is very uncomfortable and I can't imagine it being very efficient. Is
this a normal setup for a furnace? This is my 1st home and Ive only
lived here for 1 winter so I know very little about this stuff. I
remember my parents furnace didnt blow air continously. It only blew
air on the warm cycle. That seems to make much more sense to me than
cycling between very cold and warm air.


Thanks in advance for any insight


Dennis


After doing some digging around it would seem that some furnaces have
two modes...Fan "On" and "Auto". Theres no mention of it in the
furnace manual but Im starting to suspect my furnace has this option
that can be set from the thermostat. The problem is my thermostat is
one of those old kind with the mercury tube in it. No fan settings.
Maybe the previous owner upgraded the furnace but not the thermostat.
There's only two wires travelling from the furnace to the thermostat
so even if I had a newer thermostat with a fan setting, there arent an
fan wires to connect it too. Is it possible my furnace is stuck in
"ON" mode?


Have you looked in the furnace itself to determine whether there's a
fan selection switch? Mine has one but a panel must be removed to get
at it.
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Default Home heating / furnace help

On Sat, 9 Feb 2008 22:22:01 -0800 (PST), wrote:


I think the furnace is operating properly. Maybe I wasnt specific
enough about its operation.

If the house is warm the furnace blows cool air. Once the temperature
drops below the set thermostat level the blower stops for a short
time(seconds). Then the furnace ignites. Then blower comes back on and
blows warm air until the house is heated. It was my limited
understanding that this is how newer furnaces work. They have a
continous airflow(well almost continous..theres a short break just
before ignition). This makes sense to me for summer operation. The
house can be somewhat cooled by drawing cool air from the basement and
circulating it. It doesnt make sense in the winter.

The filter is new. I replace it every few months.



That is NOT how a furnace works. With the thermostat fan switch (which
you don't have) set to auto it goes like this:

Call for heat, inducer motor comes on, pressure switch makes, limit
switche checked and if closed then ignition happens, burners fire and
aprox 90 seconds later the indoor blower comes on. Once the
thermostat is satisfied the burners go off and the indoor blower goes
off aprox 90 seconds later. If your indoor blower is staying on when
there is no call for heat AND the thermostat setting has been met then
you have a bad fan limit switch if your furnace is older or a bad fan
relay.

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Default Home heating / furnace help

wrote in message
...

After doing some digging around it would seem that some furnaces have
two modes...Fan "On" and "Auto". Theres no mention of it in the
furnace manual but Im starting to suspect my furnace has this option
that can be set from the thermostat. The problem is my thermostat is
one of those old kind with the mercury tube in it. No fan settings.
Maybe the previous owner upgraded the furnace but not the thermostat.
There's only two wires travelling from the furnace to the thermostat
so even if I had a newer thermostat with a fan setting, there arent an
fan wires to connect it too. Is it possible my furnace is stuck in
"ON" mode?


Replace the thermostat. Get an electronic "set-back" t-stat, it not only
has the on/auto switch, but can be programmed as well.



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Default Home heating / furnace help

On Feb 10, 7:27*am, wrote:
On Feb 10, 2:30*am, wrote:





On Feb 9, 10:35*pm, wrote:


Hi


I know nothing about furnaces but something about the way myfurnace
works doesnt makes sense to me and I was wondering if someone could
give me an explanation...


I have a Carrier Weathermaker 8000 58WAVfurnace. It blows air
continuously. From visual inspection it looks like it draws air from
the basement. It cycles between warm and cool air. The problem is
where I live in the winter it gets extremely cold(can get as cold as
minus 40 degrees). The house is very old and the basement is very
cold. *So thefurnacecycles between very warm and very cold air which
is very uncomfortable and I can't imagine it being very efficient. Is
this a normal setup for afurnace? This is my 1st home and Ive only
lived here for 1 winter so I know very little about this stuff. I
remember my parentsfurnacedidnt blow air continously. It only blew
air on the warm cycle. That seems to make much more sense to me than
cycling between very cold and warm air.


Thanks in advance for any insight


Dennis


After doing some digging around it would seem that some furnaces have
two modes...Fan "On" and "Auto". Theres no mention of it in the
furnacemanual but Im starting to suspect myfurnacehas this option
that can be set from the thermostat. The problem is my thermostat is
one of those old kind with the mercury tube in it. No fan settings.
Maybe the previous owner upgraded thefurnacebut not the thermostat.
There's only two wires travelling from thefurnaceto the thermostat
so even if I had a newer thermostat with a fan setting, there arent an
fan wires to connect it too. Is it possible myfurnaceis stuck in
"ON" mode?- Hide quoted text -


- Show quoted text -


That' what it sounds like. * Normally, there is a switch setting on
the thermostat to set the blower to either auto or on. *Since your
thermostat only has two wires and no such switch, it sounds like thefurnaceitself is wired for the blower to be on all the time.
Personally, I would not want it set up that way. * Most are set for
the blower to come on only when heat is being delivered. *With an
olderfurnaceand conventional blower, this is going to consume a lot
of electricity. *Newer high efficiency blowers it would use a lot
less, but still will add up run 24/7.

Regarding sucking air from the basement, what makes you think it's set
up that way? * There should be return ducts going to the living space
that bring that air to the suction side of the blower.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


So it turns out I was on the right track. There's terminals in the
furnace for fan operation that weren't being used(my thermostat is
only 2 wire) I learned of these terminals from an online post about a
different brand of furnace but figured it was a standard setup. I
wired up the fan terminals to a manual switch and now my fan only
comes on during the warm cycle!! So Im pretty happy about that.

As for air being sucked in from the basement. Theres a return duct in
the basement that eventually leads to the filter and then blower
chamber. This makes great sense for house cooling in the summer but
makes no sense in the winter. To me it would make more sense if there
was a 2nd return duct upstairs where the air is warmer. With that
setup one could close the downstairs duct in the winter and open the
upstairs one. In the summer you reverse the scenario....oh well Im
just learning and at least I dont have a "cold cycle" anymore!

Thanks everyone for your help!
Dennis
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Default Home heating / furnace help

On Feb 10, 3:32*pm, "Bob M." wrote:
wrote in message

...

After doing some digging around it would seem that some furnaces have
two modes...Fan "On" and "Auto". Theres no mention of it in the
furnace manual but Im starting to suspect my furnace has this option
that can be set from the thermostat. The problem is my thermostat is
one of those old kind with the mercury tube in it. No fan settings.
Maybe the previous owner upgraded the furnace but not the thermostat.
There's only two wires travelling from the furnace to the thermostat
so even if I had a newer thermostat with a fan setting, there arent an
fan wires to connect it too. Is it possible my furnace is stuck in
"ON" mode?

Replace the thermostat. *Get an electronic "set-back" t-stat, it not only
has the on/auto switch, but can be programmed as well.


Since he stated that he only has two wires going to his existing
thermostat, just changing the thermostat isn't going to let him
control the fan. He would also need to run additional wire connected
to the furnace to allow fan control.
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