my mom bought a home that was built in 92. unsure the brand but its the original furnace. the HW heater is less than 5 years old. the neighbors bathroom flooded and messed up moms utility room so she got a new HW heater free then from their insurance.

a few weeks ago the furnace died, the guy on the phone said turn off at the breaker and back on and sure enough it worked. great. then 3 days ago furnace died again. she called me and told me she flicked the breaker and it didnt work. the unit just came on and ran a minute or so then died. i told her to try it again. didnt work. after we hung up , wthout her doing anything. she told me it just came on by itself and worked all day. meanwhile her guy came out and said he cannot find anything wrong. but he did clean the nozzle and said should be great now. furnace was fine. then i forget how long it was till she realized the hot water was broken. she called the guy that installed it and he said pilot out again. he asked about windy conditions. we didnt have like 40 mph winds or antyhing. also its a pain to get to the HW because of the setup or she would relight the pilot herself. theres also a noise when they turn off or on the shower but i told her thats prob not the HW heater, just some loose pipe. but they have slab structure so unsure how that would happen. but she somehow things installation of a new softener last month did something to the HW heater. i said no

anyways this morning both furnance and HW heater are dead. she tried the breaker. didnt light. also the green light on the HW heater is off so thats dead too. i told her call the gas company instead of her regular guy (who is my guy too as he installed my boiler) and tell the utility that both HW and heat are off. and they can verify if its a good supply or not. i never had a gas hot water heater so i'm clueless but it seems very weird both died same time. i just worry she will pay 4K for a new furance and same thing still happen. also i forget which guy tried to say theres not enough oxygen in the room but she paid for a vented door to be installed and everythign worked fine for the 5 years she's been in her house. why all a sudden would it not be enough oxygen?

so do you think this is a supply issue? the utlity room attaches to the garage but its obviously well protected from the wind so i dont even know how would blow out something thats 30 feet from any outside wall

 

Hard to diagnosis without being there and with the coincidences you mention. I suspect the shutdowns are safety features kicking in.
FWIW my comments. The pilot going out on the HW tank can take place with any errant air current. Rearrange any objects that might be near the HW tank to make air currents change.
Check the breaker box to make sure all connections are secure and no looseness.
What are current temperatures in your area? Although very rare I've heard if gas meters freezing on occasion.

 

Is this natural gas or propane? "Gas company" could go either way.

What type water heater is it? It sounds like both the furnace and water heater do not have standing pilot lights so the fire must be lit on every cycle. That means the problems are probably not occurring at exactly the same time which can largely rule out the gas supply. It could be that two appliances are having problems. The water heater goes out and because it stores hot water for many hours it doesn't get noticed. It's only when the furnace doesn't come on that someone goes and looks.

 

natural gas about 15 degrees at nite here. theres nothing to change in the utility room. its tiny. the furnace/HW/washer/dryer are in there. thats it. barely enough room to get wash out of the dryer. 2 people in there feel very crowded. id never buy a house like that but the rest is nice.

i have no clue what kind of water heater it is so no help there. i just konw mom said the green light off means pilot is off. the man comes and contorts himself between the washer and the HW tank to reach for the switch i guess to relight the pilot. something my aged mom cannot do lol.

as long as the gas company comes and tells her no supply issues i guess she will buy a new furnace. she was told by the furnace guy that they could try to get a 400 dollar part (maybe control board?) but no guarantee would be better. she really shoudl have got the furnace before she put in new AC 3 years ago. now is gonna cost more to rip it all apart. sigh.

the HW guy said its possible the new heater wouldnt even last 5 or 6 year. i think thats BS. i cannot imagine new gas HW heater lasting just that long.

do u think theres any chance there really is no o2 in the room? since its been the same since day one she moved in i find that hard to believe. unless when the guy put in the new softener he closed up the hole between the garage and the utility room more tightly. the softener is in the garage. so are 2 pipes thru the wall.

 

Not really. The so called lifetime of appliances nowadays is 7 to 10 years on average. But 5 or 6 years is little early.

But consider, warranties on gas water heaters range from 6,9,and 12 years. On electric it ranges from 3,6,9, and 12 years.

I think that it's just coincidence that both units are faulty and there is no common or related cause connecting the failures.

Just as test, leave the door open on this utility room. Reset that green button and see what happens with regard to the water tank.

 

any guesses why a furnace, without any human interaction. would start working again?

 

Guesses could be anything. Poor electrical connection? Possible drop in gas pressure, very unusual. Faulty thermocouple or sensor. Faulty gas valve?

 

gas company ripped apart the frozen meter. cleaned and said you gotta dig it out in the cold weather if is snow around it. he said no hot water nor salt. i know thermal shock for hot water but why not salt. bit wont rust away the pipes. shes old and really cannot do digging. i suggested roof tape and she said no

thing is now i wonder why mine never froze. hers has a soffit over it, mine is totally unprotected and on the west side of the house with limited sun. i guess all her townhouses have issues, he said he gets many calls for that area

 

Are you saying this is in fact the problem? A frozen meter? The gas company actually came out?

 

yes free of charge. he said we havent had this much deep freeze in 6 years. which i think is a lie, but it doesnt matter. i remember end 2017 being 2 weeks near zero. . she said the snow never got much above the bottom of the meter but i guess it was enough to freeze it. we get snow every 2 days or so this week. almost makes me wanna go out to my meter on the side of the house i never go on just to see what mine looks like.

 

If she can't keep it clear and she won't use the heat tape, how about you build a 2 x 4 plywood enclosure?

 

probably hoa issues there lol. faces the street. you know gotta keep it all pretty with bushes exactly this high by that wide

 

Is the water heater working now?
Was cleaning fluid or paint thinner spilled on the floor near the water heater recently?
Such a spill can cause several models of water heaters (with sealed bottom combustion chambers) to "trip out" and a seviceman has to come in and replace certain small parts to get it going again.

 

the gas meter was frozen. the gas guy took it apart and fixed it so both things are now getting fuel