Alright, my main question revolves around not understanding natural gas. Before we shell out a high dollar amount to replace our furnace and pipes and upgrade to Central heating & air, we want to double check that this isn't an issue of something that can be fixed for much cheaper.
We live in an older house, probably built around the 60s.
Here's what I know:
- When temperature outside drops below 35 degrees, the house can no longer maintain temperature at 69. The longer the outside temperature stays 35 or below, the lower the inside will drop until it hits the 50s. Once outside temperature goes above 35, the house begins to climb back up to where the thermostat is set. This is a major issue in winter. In KY, there are a couple of months of the year where this means the house will be uncomfortably cold.
-New roof and new insulation have been installed since moving in.
-Two story house, the upstairs is warmer, but we don't really use the upstairs for daily living.
-I can time it for more accurate measures but if a rough estimate helps, the furnace for heating the water that heats the house comes on once every 35-45 minutes and stays on for about 10 minutes. Let me know if an exact time needs to be figured out.
Other signs/issues:
- Gas stove top requires that I turn the gas on high for about 8 seconds before switching to the ignition which will light the flame immediately at that point. To my knowledge, what should be required is going straight to flame ignition. If I actually do this, it will click for about 20 seconds before any flame ignites. Making me think there could be an issue with needing more gas. This is true for all 4 burners, and has always been true. The stove was new when we installed it and has always been this way. (The flames are blue, but very small.)
It could have been a coincidence, but while boiling water a few days ago, I turned on the hot water in the sink. It ran for about 3 minutes, probably causing the water heater to kick on. I noticed a couple of minutes later that the burner for the water had actually cut off. The knob still showed it was on, however. So I had to cut it off and reignite to get it to work again. I've never seen this happen, and when I tried to repeat it, it didn't happen.
I wonder if the gas pressure isn't high enough to the house being the reason that I have gas related issues. But if this sounds more like the stove has its own internal issue, and the heating is it's own issue that has to be fixed another way, please let me know your advice.
Best Answer
I would say that your gas pressure / supply in general needs to be checked (that part might even be free from the gas company - call and report your symptoms)
and
that your boiler (despite not actually boiling if doing hot water rather than steam, that's what "a furnace for heating water" is normally called) and hydronic (hot water) heating controls need to be checked and corrected (even if the gas pressure is fine - or even if the gas pressure is low and gets corrected.) That part will almost certainly involve paying for a service call from a qualified heating system person.
Do them in that order, since servicing the boiler will go more smoothly if the gas pressure is correct.