Had a horrible morning. Yesterday I received most of what I had ordered to be able to do the Babbitt bearings on the planter I am resurrecting. So got up this morning all excited about doing something fun. Fun to me is doing anything I haven't done before especially if it involves my metal lathe and heat.
Make coffee and walk out to the shop, open the door and hear the furnace fan running problem was it was about 35 deg in the shop. Run over to the furnace and find the pilot light out. Disconnected the thermostat so the fan would quit running and re-lit the pilot. It lit fine and stayed lit so knew that wasn't the problem. Connected the thermostat back up, grabbed a meter, fan came on but no volts to the gas valve. Oh crap probably one of the over heat sensors went open. Now those sensors are hidden behind sheet metal that have a million screws to take out and it's freezing in the shop.
Well ol Bob ain't gonna spend any more time than he has too working on a furnace in a 30 deg shop. So I jumpered voltage to the gas valve and got the furnace going. While the shop was warming up I built a little relay circuit that would turn on the gas valve when the thermostat kicked in and hung it on clip leads clipped to the appropriate connections in the furnace. After a couple checks furnace works like it should and was finally able to get on with the fun stuff.
The furnace can wait for one of the 60 deg days we are suppose to have next week. Not real comfortable having all the safety stuff bypassed but it works and a risk I guess I am willing to take at least for a few days. Guess it's a blessing I spent most of my working life in electronics, have a pretty good parts supply and the knowledge to make an old furnace work. Otherwise I would still be huddled in the house waiting for somebody to come fix the durn furnace.
Managed to get the mandrel/form finished I will be using when I pour the bearings and figured out my pour plan. All I am waiting on now is a new heating element for my old Lee lead melting pot and a 3/4" adjustable reamer to clean up the ID when I have the bearings finished.
Make coffee and walk out to the shop, open the door and hear the furnace fan running problem was it was about 35 deg in the shop. Run over to the furnace and find the pilot light out. Disconnected the thermostat so the fan would quit running and re-lit the pilot. It lit fine and stayed lit so knew that wasn't the problem. Connected the thermostat back up, grabbed a meter, fan came on but no volts to the gas valve. Oh crap probably one of the over heat sensors went open. Now those sensors are hidden behind sheet metal that have a million screws to take out and it's freezing in the shop.
Well ol Bob ain't gonna spend any more time than he has too working on a furnace in a 30 deg shop. So I jumpered voltage to the gas valve and got the furnace going. While the shop was warming up I built a little relay circuit that would turn on the gas valve when the thermostat kicked in and hung it on clip leads clipped to the appropriate connections in the furnace. After a couple checks furnace works like it should and was finally able to get on with the fun stuff.
The furnace can wait for one of the 60 deg days we are suppose to have next week. Not real comfortable having all the safety stuff bypassed but it works and a risk I guess I am willing to take at least for a few days. Guess it's a blessing I spent most of my working life in electronics, have a pretty good parts supply and the knowledge to make an old furnace work. Otherwise I would still be huddled in the house waiting for somebody to come fix the durn furnace.
Managed to get the mandrel/form finished I will be using when I pour the bearings and figured out my pour plan. All I am waiting on now is a new heating element for my old Lee lead melting pot and a 3/4" adjustable reamer to clean up the ID when I have the bearings finished.