Annual maintenance for high efficiency gas furnace

Posted by Jim Elbrecht on October 28, 2009, 9:36 am

On Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:17:13 -0500, Jules

>On Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:16:52 -0700, DerbyDad03 wrote:

>> re: "I think they delivery company get really upset if you run the
>> tank dry though and charge extra."
>>
>> Why? (Seriously)

>Well, they insist on doing a full leak check on the supply lines if the
>tank goes empty, and charge for it (50 bucks I think).

My company doesn't do a leak test- but they have to insure that a
homeowner is home & check all appliances for working pilot
thermocouple. They also have to be sure none of the burners on the
stove are turned on. They've offered to light my pilots for me so
I assume that they could spend an hour at a house where there was
nobody around to get everything up and running again.

I'm on automatic delivery, so the last time I ran out was several
years ago & it was their fault, so I apologies instead of charges.

Jim

Posted by Jules on October 28, 2009, 4:59 pm

On Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:36:21 -0400, Jim Elbrecht wrote:

> I'm on automatic delivery, so the last time I ran out was several
> years ago & it was their fault, so I apologies instead of charges.

Interesting - how does that work then? Do they have some high-tech sensor
dohickey hooked up to the phone line which calls out when it needs
refilling, or is it that they just send a guy round to check every once
in a while?

Posted by Jim Elbrecht on October 28, 2009, 6:35 pm

On Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:59:26 -0500, Jules

>On Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:36:21 -0400, Jim Elbrecht wrote:

>> I'm on automatic delivery, so the last time I ran out was several
>> years ago & it was their fault, so I apologies instead of charges.

>Interesting - how does that work then? Do they have some high-tech sensor
>dohickey hooked up to the phone line which calls out when it needs
>refilling, or is it that they just send a guy round to check every once
>in a while?

They ask what appliances I have running, and ask to be notified if I
add more. Then they ask about family size. A chart helps them
determine that a family of 4 with a stove, water heater, and dryer
will use nn gallons a month. Then their computer keeps historic
records and they adjust accordingly.

I threw them off when I added a space heater. Now they also take into
account heating degree days & historic usage. It took them a
couple years to get a handle on that because I use the gas heater more
in spring and fall than the dead of winter. But now they have it
down. I rarely go below 40% full.

[BTW- my fuel oil is automatic too-- based on history and heating
degree days. In 20 years I have never run out. I have a 275
gallon tank. They usually deliver between 120-150 gallons.]

Jim

Posted by DerbyDad03 on October 28, 2009, 7:44 pm

> On Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:59:26 -0500, Jules

> >On Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:36:21 -0400, Jim Elbrecht wrote:

> >> I'm on automatic delivery, so the last time I ran out was several
> >> years ago & it was their fault, so I apologies instead of charges.

> >Interesting - how does that work then? Do they have some high-tech senso=

> >dohickey hooked up to the phone line which calls out when it needs
> >refilling, or is it that they just send a guy round to check every once
> >in a while?

> They ask what appliances I have running, and ask to be notified if I
> add more. =A0 =A0Then they ask about family size. =A0 =A0A chart helps th=

> determine that a family of 4 with a stove, water heater, and dryer
> will use nn gallons a month. =A0 =A0 =A0 Then their computer keeps histor=

> records and they adjust accordingly.
> I threw them off when I added a space heater. =A0Now they also take into
> account heating degree days & historic usage. =A0 =A0 It took them a
> couple years to get a handle on that because I use the gas heater more
> in spring and fall than the dead of winter. =A0 But now they have it
> down. =A0 =A0I rarely go below 40% full.
> [BTW- my fuel oil is automatic too-- based on history and heating
> degree days. =A0 =A0In 20 years I have never run out. =A0 =A0I have a 275
> gallon tank. They usually deliver between 120-150 gallons.]
> Jim

While I jokingly posted a method about keeping track of the number of
hours of propane use before the tank ran out, I was actually only half
joking.

What your supplier is doing is more or less what I suggested - they're
just using data that is a bit more solid than a "one time run-it-dry,
now we know" scenario.

Posted by Jim Elbrecht on October 29, 2009, 6:51 am

On Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:44:35 -0700 (PDT), DerbyDad03

-snip-

>What your supplier is doing is more or less what I suggested - they're
>just using data that is a bit more solid than a "one time run-it-dry,
>now we know" scenario.

They also have the advantage of being able to fill it at will *before*
it should run out. And they already have to plug those
numbers into a computer for billing & inventory.

The only disadvantage of automatic delivery is that you are at their
mercy for pricing. Neither of my vendors is the least expensive in
my area. But they are both reliable & the peace of mind is worth a
few bucks a year.

Jim

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Annual maintenance for high efficiency gas furnace - Page 6