V
12-13-2011, 09:43 AM
The house is a legal 2 family house, with one line coming into the house and separate gas meters in the basement.
On Sunday morning I got a call from my mother that the heat is off and that the gas burners in the kitchen won't light. I checked and the heat for the upstairs was working fine, furnace would come on and everything. Of course I asked if she paid the bill, and yes, she did. Therefore, I told her to call the gas company and have them send someone out. Well after 30+ minutes on hold, we finally explained our issue and about an hour later a man was at our door to take a look.
Once in the kitchen, he tries the stove, and of course it now works. Isn't that always how things work. Anyways, in the basement he could see that the pilot for the furnace was out anyways meaning something could have happened with the gas flow. I explain that the gas upstairs is working with the furnace and since the only variable between the two lines were the 2 meters, he decided to install a new meter just in case it was faulty. He did the job quick and made sure to re-light all the furnace and stove pilot lights before he left. Heat then continued to work and my mom made a big batch of cookies that afternoon with no issues.
Now yesterday afternoon, when i was talking to my mom in her kitchen, I heard a lot of running water in the walls and such. I commented on it and she said it was the heat pipes(hot water baseboard heating) I didn't think much more of it since I assumed I just wasn't use to it.
Now this morning while still in bed, I get another call from my mother saying the heat is off again and the stove won't light as well. So I tell her to call the gas company again and up I get. Once again I go check the gas for the upstairs unit. And like on Sunday, it's very toasty and heat going strong. So I turn down the thermostat to shut if off and go back downstairs. In the basement again I see the upstairs furnace was obviously just on and good to go, downstairs furnace is cold yet I could here the water system of the furnace still pumping water through the lines and house. That's why the sound of the running water caught my attention more. Being that the water was cold, it didn't pressurize the copper lines and in turn sounded different. That would mean the gas went off Monday afternoon sometime. Back to my moms kitchen I went and to my confusion the gas burners now lit.
So then I came up with a theory... On Sunday, I had turned off the heat upstairs prior to the gas company repairman arriving. And also today, I turned off the heat before trying the downstairs stove. I was thinking maybe the gas supply wasn't enough to feed both units. So I ran back upstairs and cranked the heat up. I checked in the basement to make sure that furnace was on. Then about 5 min later I tried to turn on my moms kitchen stove. Nothing. Just a tiny little flame barely visible. Now I was perplexed. Upstairs I went and shut off the heat. I then kept trying the burners until about 10 good attempts later they came on and worked fully. From then on, they would light fine. So once again I cranked the heat upstairs and played with the burners. After several on/off cycles, once again they stopped working. After doing this process several times, as convincing as it was, I still couldn't not get a definite correlation. The 3rd or 4th time I was trying I went to the basement to check any meter flow readings and I heard the upstairs furnace burners "blow out". Now maybe that's how they shut off... but it almost seemed as if the gas had "run out".
At that point I gave up and told me mom to let the gas company figure it out, or a plumber even if need be. Well, gas repairman came this morning and looked at everything and concluded it was probably just a "bubble of air" after the install of the new gas meter. I didn't speak to him nor see what he checked and I asked my mother if she mentioned my theory. She did not.
The gas is on now and working, but I highly doubt this dilemma is over. I can't see how an "air bubble" would remain after it was working fine for 24hrs and then cause it to work intermittently this morning. I bet we'll be calling the gas company again before dark.
Anyone have any similar experiences, theories, information, or conclusions???
On Sunday morning I got a call from my mother that the heat is off and that the gas burners in the kitchen won't light. I checked and the heat for the upstairs was working fine, furnace would come on and everything. Of course I asked if she paid the bill, and yes, she did. Therefore, I told her to call the gas company and have them send someone out. Well after 30+ minutes on hold, we finally explained our issue and about an hour later a man was at our door to take a look.
Once in the kitchen, he tries the stove, and of course it now works. Isn't that always how things work. Anyways, in the basement he could see that the pilot for the furnace was out anyways meaning something could have happened with the gas flow. I explain that the gas upstairs is working with the furnace and since the only variable between the two lines were the 2 meters, he decided to install a new meter just in case it was faulty. He did the job quick and made sure to re-light all the furnace and stove pilot lights before he left. Heat then continued to work and my mom made a big batch of cookies that afternoon with no issues.
Now yesterday afternoon, when i was talking to my mom in her kitchen, I heard a lot of running water in the walls and such. I commented on it and she said it was the heat pipes(hot water baseboard heating) I didn't think much more of it since I assumed I just wasn't use to it.
Now this morning while still in bed, I get another call from my mother saying the heat is off again and the stove won't light as well. So I tell her to call the gas company again and up I get. Once again I go check the gas for the upstairs unit. And like on Sunday, it's very toasty and heat going strong. So I turn down the thermostat to shut if off and go back downstairs. In the basement again I see the upstairs furnace was obviously just on and good to go, downstairs furnace is cold yet I could here the water system of the furnace still pumping water through the lines and house. That's why the sound of the running water caught my attention more. Being that the water was cold, it didn't pressurize the copper lines and in turn sounded different. That would mean the gas went off Monday afternoon sometime. Back to my moms kitchen I went and to my confusion the gas burners now lit.
So then I came up with a theory... On Sunday, I had turned off the heat upstairs prior to the gas company repairman arriving. And also today, I turned off the heat before trying the downstairs stove. I was thinking maybe the gas supply wasn't enough to feed both units. So I ran back upstairs and cranked the heat up. I checked in the basement to make sure that furnace was on. Then about 5 min later I tried to turn on my moms kitchen stove. Nothing. Just a tiny little flame barely visible. Now I was perplexed. Upstairs I went and shut off the heat. I then kept trying the burners until about 10 good attempts later they came on and worked fully. From then on, they would light fine. So once again I cranked the heat upstairs and played with the burners. After several on/off cycles, once again they stopped working. After doing this process several times, as convincing as it was, I still couldn't not get a definite correlation. The 3rd or 4th time I was trying I went to the basement to check any meter flow readings and I heard the upstairs furnace burners "blow out". Now maybe that's how they shut off... but it almost seemed as if the gas had "run out".
At that point I gave up and told me mom to let the gas company figure it out, or a plumber even if need be. Well, gas repairman came this morning and looked at everything and concluded it was probably just a "bubble of air" after the install of the new gas meter. I didn't speak to him nor see what he checked and I asked my mother if she mentioned my theory. She did not.
The gas is on now and working, but I highly doubt this dilemma is over. I can't see how an "air bubble" would remain after it was working fine for 24hrs and then cause it to work intermittently this morning. I bet we'll be calling the gas company again before dark.
Anyone have any similar experiences, theories, information, or conclusions???