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With my broken heater, it's as I expected. I have to decide whether to get the control board replaced, or replace the whole furnace (as it is 19 years old). If I replace the whole furnace, I may as well replace the A/C unit too, as I've been worried about it for quite a while. It makes a moderately loud buzzing noise when running. 5 years ago (I didn't realize it was that long ago), I was told it might stop working any day, or it might last a few more years.
The furnace on the other hand, is sheltered in the basement and actually looks in pretty good condition to me. One part of me is thinking that they could possibly last many more years (although they might not).
I got a couple quotes on replacing the control board, vs the whole thing. One set of the quotes actually seems pretty good, though I need to ask some more questions and get more details. So one part of me is thinking, since I already went through the trouble of getting quotes, maybe I should go ahead and replace it all now, rather than having to go through the same thing again a couple years down the road. I might not even be able to get as good a quote/price later on.
Anyway, today I went down into the basement/crawl space to look at the ducts again, as I wasn't sure if I was remembering something right. While down there, I noticed a new wet spot on the ground. It was right under a copper pipe. I didn't see any leak in the pipe. There was a small amount of water on the pink insulation right above the pipe (touching the pipe), so I worried it was leaking down from up above. The bathroom sink was right above that area.
So I went back up and checked under the bathroom sink. Whoa. I had put a plastic dish with a sponge under the shut-off valve to catch any potential leaks (as it had leaked there a long time ago), and the sponge was all wet and there was water in the dish. But the water hadn't overflowed out of the plastic, and the cabinet itself was dry. So how could it be leaking down below? Was it just a coincidence? Eh?
I checked the basement again. Pulled down the insulation a bit to look at the wood. Dry. Hmmm.
Got a small mirror, wiped off the pipe, and looked at the top of the pipe using the mirror.
There's a very tiny pinhole leak. Just enough for water to slowly slowly start welling out and making the outside of the pipe wet. I put a plastic tub under it for the time being.
I hope it's not an indication of the overall condition of my plumbing pipes.
.
So I do some research as part of fixing one problem (broken heater), and I find 2 new problems, one of which just coincidentally, from initial appearances, appeared to be causing the other problem, but really wasn't.
That sounds exactly like a typical day at my work, debugging code.
The furnace on the other hand, is sheltered in the basement and actually looks in pretty good condition to me. One part of me is thinking that they could possibly last many more years (although they might not).
I got a couple quotes on replacing the control board, vs the whole thing. One set of the quotes actually seems pretty good, though I need to ask some more questions and get more details. So one part of me is thinking, since I already went through the trouble of getting quotes, maybe I should go ahead and replace it all now, rather than having to go through the same thing again a couple years down the road. I might not even be able to get as good a quote/price later on.
Anyway, today I went down into the basement/crawl space to look at the ducts again, as I wasn't sure if I was remembering something right. While down there, I noticed a new wet spot on the ground. It was right under a copper pipe. I didn't see any leak in the pipe. There was a small amount of water on the pink insulation right above the pipe (touching the pipe), so I worried it was leaking down from up above. The bathroom sink was right above that area.
So I went back up and checked under the bathroom sink. Whoa. I had put a plastic dish with a sponge under the shut-off valve to catch any potential leaks (as it had leaked there a long time ago), and the sponge was all wet and there was water in the dish. But the water hadn't overflowed out of the plastic, and the cabinet itself was dry. So how could it be leaking down below? Was it just a coincidence? Eh?
I checked the basement again. Pulled down the insulation a bit to look at the wood. Dry. Hmmm.
Got a small mirror, wiped off the pipe, and looked at the top of the pipe using the mirror.
There's a very tiny pinhole leak. Just enough for water to slowly slowly start welling out and making the outside of the pipe wet. I put a plastic tub under it for the time being.
I hope it's not an indication of the overall condition of my plumbing pipes.
.
So I do some research as part of fixing one problem (broken heater), and I find 2 new problems, one of which just coincidentally, from initial appearances, appeared to be causing the other problem, but really wasn't.
That sounds exactly like a typical day at my work, debugging code.