Ask the Builder: DIY maintenance hacks save big money

Several days ago, I found myself without heat and hot water at 6 p.m., just as I was washing dinner dishes. My propane-fired modulating combi boiler, which does double duty, heating the house and my hot water, decided to stop working. It’s still chilly in central New Hampshire, where I live. The fan that sucks in combustion air and blows out exhaust gases stopped spinning. The sensors and internal computer lock out the boiler burner when this happens.

It could have been much worse. It could have been 15 degrees F outdoors instead of 50 degrees. I was stunned that the next morning, I couldn’t locate a replacement fan assembly in all of New England. I was prepared to drive 250 miles one way to get the part. The closest business that had it was in Illinois. I had the replacement fan in my hands within 24 hours. Thank you to all the UPS employees who made this possible. It was well worth the $140.00 overnight delivery fee.

It turns out there are only two moving parts in my boiler — this fan and a valve that shunts hot water to the sink faucets or the heating loops. I can assure you that I’ll now have both of these parts on a shelf in my mechanical room in case I have another issue.

What’s the lesson here? There are several, in my opinion. First, you should have a good feeling about the availability of parts for your critical systems in your home. How many residential boilers do you think are in New England? The number has to approach 1 million, maybe more. Can you imagine my shock to discover that not one of the major parts distributors stocked this fan assembly, knowing that it’s one of the two moving parts in a very common boiler?

You might want to have a discussion with your HVAC technician, plumber, or electrician to discover if you’re in a situation similar to the one I found myself in. You may live where air conditioning is required for many months of the year. If so, I recommend you discover what size start-up capacitors provide the power to get your compressor working. Have those parts in a plastic bag hanging on your electric panel for when you’ll need them.

Heat, air conditioning, and hot water are basic creature comforts many depend on. I know my sweet wife loves a hot shower each morning. She also doesn’t want to feel like an ice cube when exiting the shower.

There was little I could do to prevent this fan failure. There were no odd noises or squealing bearings to indicate the fan was having trouble. The fan just locked up. That said, there are many things you and I should do each week, month, or year to keep our mechanical systems in great shape so they rarely fail.

Have you ever taken a few minutes to read the maintenance section of the owner’s manual for all your equipment? You should. Here’s just one thing from my boiler manual. My boiler has a condensate trap. The manual says to clean it out every year. It’s very simple to do. You don’t need to be a technician.

However, if you fail to clean it out and the drain line gets clogged with tiny bits of sediment, the boiler will malfunction. It’s so simple to set up reminders on your electronic calendar to receive a notification when to do the task. The calendars are so sophisticated that you can match up the exact day to when you know you’ll have the time to do it. The repair bill, if you forget, could be hundreds of dollars, maybe even thousands.

Here’s another story. I have well water. It’s smart to have a whole-house filter to capture tiny flakes of rock that might otherwise end up in my faucet aerators or the toilet fill valve. The paper filter needs to be changed every six months. It’s easy to do. You don’t have to be a plumber.

If you forget to change the 5-micron filter, your water pressure drops, nasty rust stains appear in all your toilets, and the water is unhealthy to drink. Once again, I use my electronic calendar to send an alert every six months. I even have a pre-alert set up. This alert says, “Hey Tim, you MUST change the water filter in a week.”

You should do the same if you have a forced-air heating and cooling system. Change your filters as it states in your owner’s manual. You should check your exterior AC compressor to ensure the cooling fins are clear of all debris. Leaves, dirt, and other things that clog the tiny spaces between the fins can cause premature failure of this very expensive machine!

How about your refrigerator and freezer? Do you clean the cooling coils on those every three months? Once again, lean on your electronic calendar to let you know. Appliance repairs are expensive. It costs hundreds of dollars just to get the repairman to show up. The price of parts will take your breath away. Keeping the coils clean will allow your refrigeration equipment to run at peak performance.

The same is true for your clothes dryer. Dryer fires are very common. You must clean the lint filter after each load. Even if you do that, lint still can clog the exhaust pipe. What’s more, tiny pieces of lint that do escape to the exterior of your home can be a problem. If you have the fresh-air intake near your dryer exhaust vent, lint can be pulled into your tankless water heater, furnace, or boiler intake pipes!

Much of this is common sense. You can do almost all of the things required to keep all your equipment in top order. You just have to take the time to read the owner’s manual and set up the calendar alerts. Good luck!

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