Home maintenance and spare parts thread

[ExtraSlow]

So, every time someone posts about a water heater replacement, dozens of people jump out to tell them it's probably just the thermocouple. There's another thread today suggesting cleaning the flame sensor in a furnace. So, what spare parts do you carry on hand and what routine maintenance do you do annually to keep your HVAC and water heater going?

For me, I keep a spare humidifier solenoid valve, since my hard water seem t gum mine up annually.
I always have extra humidifier evap pads around too, since new pads are cheaper than CLR to clean them.

I should probably keep a water tank thermocouple on hand, although I don't have it yet.

If we all get organized, we can save the group some real dollars through this heating season. What parts and procedures do YOU use?

[ThePenIsMightier]

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So, every time someone posts about a water heater replacement, dozens of people jump out to tell them it's probably just the thermocouple. There's another thread today suggesting cleaning the flame sensor in a furnace. So, what spare parts do you carry on hand and what routine maintenance do you do annually to keep your HVAC and water heater going?

For me, I keep a spare humidifier solenoid valve, since my hard water seem t gum mine up annually.
I always have extra humidifier evap pads around too, since new pads are cheaper than CLR to clean them.

I should probably keep a water tank thermocouple on hand, although I don't have it yet.

If we all get organized, we can save the group some real dollars through this heating season. What parts and procedures do YOU use?

As per the thread title, I like am also
Home maintnenece and spare parts thread.
^That's week...

[ExtraSlow]

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As per the thread title, I like am also
Home maintnenece and spare parts thread.
^That's week...

I'm hanging my head in shame.

[Ca_Silvia13]

None, everything should be available in town within 24-48 hours. Benefits of being in a big city. If i lived on an acreage or in a small town it would make more sense to stock parts in the house.

[jwslam]

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None, everything should be available in town within 24-48 hours. Benefits of being in a big city. If i lived on an acreage or in a small town it would make more sense to stock parts in the house.

+1
Only things I have on spares would be things that come in bulk (i.e. furnace filters), but then those aren't really the maintenance items you're talking about. More like repair parts.

[Thaco]

yeh no point, should be more or less immediately available locally, and if the stores are closed there are on call repair guys that'll have the parts if its that critical.

[Tik-Tok]

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None, everything should be available in town within 24-48 hours. Benefits of being in a big city. If i lived on an acreage or in a small town it would make more sense to stock parts in the house.

That 24-48 hours can be quite detrimental if it's -30*C outside though, and it's your furnace fucking up. Everything that carries that stuff is closed most of the weekend too.

[Thaco]

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That 24-48 hours can be quite detrimental if it's -30*C outside though, and it's your furnace fucking up. Everything that carries that stuff is closed most of the weekend too.

have a couple space heaters.. or crank on the oven with the door open.


most of your every day electronics should produce enough heat to prevent your house from freezing anyway

[ExtraSlow]

I guess my two fireplaces throw quite a bit of heat if needed as well. Have been wondering about wiring up something so they'd work in a power outage.

[Ca_Silvia13]

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That 24-48 hours can be quite detrimental if it's -30*C outside though, and it's your furnace fucking up. Everything that carries that stuff is closed most of the weekend too.

MIL's furnace went down last year in -30*. She never told me till day 2 and went a total of 4 days without furnace heat in there place. It's easy to bundle up and use an electric heater in a given room to stay warm.

[revelations]

The contractors will be the busiest EXACTLY when you need them. 6pm on a Sunday when its -30 outside and you have no heat.

Having these basic parts (and knowledge) on hand is very intelligent.

[Thaco]

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The contractors will be the busiest EXACTLY when you need them. 6pm on a Sunday when its -30 outside and you have no heat.

Having these basic parts (and knowledge) on hand is very intelligent.

Buying them to have on hand is a good idea, but realistically the only thing that is end user repairable is a flame sensor/therocouple or a motor, i'm not gonna spend hundreds of dollars on maybe parts to maybe save myself some money in the long run... and that's assuming i can find the parts in my storage when i need them.

[dj_rice]

AMRE Supply will have most if not all the spare parts you require.

[The_Penguin]

Agree AMRE is the place, closed Sundays, and don't have absolutely everything though.
My AC died on a Sunday morning on a stupid hot weekend. Our West-facing walls are pretty much all windows, so gets really hot.
Had a furnace die on a weekend as well. Murphy...


I keep a spare run capacitor for my AC, and for my Furnace blower motors.
Spare flame sensor (same part for both furnaces)
A few Poly-B to Pex converter fittings, some Pex, and crimp rings, even though those are available at Home Depot.

[nzwasp]

I think it’s usually a honeywell thermocoupler that dies quite often atleast on my tank. I know I can get them pretty cheap on amazon but I guess I should check at work to see if I get an employee discount or something like that.

[mr2mike]

Everyone saying parts are easy to get, repair guys come out quick in a big city... ERRR WRONG!
Your furnace outage will go like this...
You head to work, it's all good. Come home after work, furnace doesn't work, temps have dropped all day, you call services out. They said, sure but also you get dinged an additional $100+ for after hours service because they're being called out non stop and can't get to your house until 11pm or later. So your $20 flame sensor now costs you suckers $300+ to fix.
Think you can avoid this and just do it in the morning? Now you're dealing with frozen pipes which may or may not be split.

I keep a spare flame sensor and igniter. Easy to change out myself and cheap security when -30, 7pm and roads are terrible.
For "Maintnainece" I use an air compressor to blow out the furnaces and vacuum to clean it out as well.

[ThePenIsMightier]

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Everyone saying parts are easy to get, repair guys come out quick in a big city... ERRR WRONG!
Your furnace outage will go like this...
You head to work, it's all good. Come home after work, furnace doesn't work, temps have dropped all day, you call services out. They said, sure but also you get dinged an additional $100+ for after hours service because they're being called out non stop and can't get to your house until 11pm or later. So your $20 flame sensor now costs you suckers $300+ to fix.
Think you can avoid this and just do it in the morning? Now you're dealing with frozen pipes which may or may not be split.

I keep a spare flame sensor and igniter. Easy to change out myself and cheap security when -30, 7pm and roads are terrible.
For "Maintnainece" I use an air compressor to blow out the furnaces and vacuum to clean it out as well.

Ok, there's some valid points here but LoL at "frozen pipes by morning"!!
I don't think we live in sheds or tents. No house will drop to zero THAT quickly and let's not pretend that the instant the air in the house hits 0.000°C that all the water in the pipes & toilets immediately freezes solid and ruptures.
It's certainly an item that needs to be dealt with promptly, but it's not the same level of emergency as a poisonous/flammable gas leak

[ExtraSlow]

It would be instructive to see how slowly the temps dropped in a "typical" house with zero heat. My current house holds heat amazingly because it's got triple pane windows and a shared wall. The old place I had in Renfrew would probably burst pipes in a single day, I swear it was uninsulated.

[mr2mike]

Yeah sorry, forgot most beyonders live in new, $1M infills.
I'm thinking a 1950s house... Pipes would freeze by morning for sure.
Not all. But some.
Have had neighbours panicked because water was only trickling out of tap in the morning.

[Tik-Tok]

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Yeah sorry, forgot most beyonders live in new, $1M infills.
I'm thinking a 1950s house... Pipes would freeze by morning for sure.
Not all. But some.
Have had neighbours panicked because water was only trickling out of tap in the morning.

My 50's bungelow would for sure have a frozen pipe or two after 24h of below -20. Especially the pipes that are along the exterior basement wall.