HVAC help required

[ChickenLips]

My house is a knock down, but I'm a year or two from selling. Any money I spend on the place is wasted. I'll fix the toilet but won't paint the porch.

Furnace is an ancient Clare MegaSave 1 model H.E.G 80 A. Installed in 1983, that's right 83.

TLDR: Where do these dinosaurs go to die when pulled out? I'd like to harvest some spares, just like my yard trips for Mustang parts.

Backstory

Furnace is a tank. A couple years back I went with a "Heating Protection Plan" from Reliance at $22 a month. They replaced a blower motor.

Just prior to Christmas the gas control valve stuck open. Tech came, after sorting out that this was not a case for CO2 sniffing I ran him through failure analysis and I agree with his diagnosis. It's a failed solenoid on the gas valve that is not providing a "shut off" signal when setpoint is met.

I've been controlling manually via shutting off the gas plug valve killing flame, letting fan run to cool the exchanger and then cutting power to the fan.

He ordered a valve, 2 week delivery. I didn't tell them my work around and went with helpless old man, fixed income shtick. I got a hard sell for new furnace. My math says, free valve and install in 2 weeks, versus 3-4K furnace. Called customer service for expedited shipping, couldn't move the needle.

Any suggestions on where I can find spares? Google didn't find anything.

[redo75]

I got a pile of screws, bolts and wiring, plate steel metal, and blower from my 86 Lennox pulse a few months ago.
All the rest that I couldn't put in my basement pile of useless "stuff" went off to Kia in China by way of our local scrap yard.
Heating people scrap all even if the wiring is 10x the quality of todays copper wiring stuff.
Couldn't care less.
Try a dealer for that product, some older dudes do save some " important old junk " in case.
You may have to pay for install due to our regulations and laws about who can play with a install on said product.

[redo75]

I may have shot my mouth off too early about Clare Brother's furnace from Preston Ont.
Try AMRE who did have some parts in the mid 2000's.
Need a good guy to do some digging.

[Ponyryd]

I recently had a furnace issue as well, mine is new compared to yours, so parts were available on EBay and Amazon…was a failed gas valve though, I paid the hvac guy to change it.
As far as finding one for parts goes-it will be very hard unless there’s another house like yours about to be torn down and you can pilfer parts from it.
A buddy was telling me about that reliance deal, next year I think I’m gonna pull the trigger on it, been here 12 years and have done very little, I’m sure the time is coming.

[ChickenLips]

The more familiar I become with my furnace, the more I appreciate what a tank it is. No circuit boards, 96% efficient. The tech commented on how much he hated them. Why, because they're so heavy to remove. In passing he said, "man look at the size of those pressure switches (approx 6x2x2"), the new ones are the size of a stack of quarters, but they new ones fail a lot".

Looks like I'll just need to keep my ear to the ground.

I did get along well with the tech. He was working the holidays and grumbled about his GF. I explained some basic female psych to him and he wasn't a snowflake that got offended. We've stayed in touch since.

When the replacement valve arrives I'm going to see if I can refurb the faulty solenoid on the outgoing valve.

[Screw]

Parts will be much harder to find than any foxbody stuff lol , pressure switches, mercury flame switch , ventor motors , shit I just threw out brand new v52 v17 ventors , igniter box maybe even a valve when I moved

[ChickenLips]

Parts will be much harder to find than any foxbody stuff lol , pressure switches, mercury flame switch , ventor motors , shit I just threw out brand new v52 v17 ventors , igniter box maybe even a valve when I moved

agreed, but I won't find if I don't look

Also all I need is another 1-2 years before I sell and GTF out of dodge

[USAWIT2]

There is one listed on Kijiji, not sure if it the same as yours

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-heating-cooling-air/hamilton/clare-mega-save-1-high-efficient-furnace-great-garage-heat/1473429992

Sent from my KB2005 using Tapatalk

[redo75]

To be clear I am not a pro on pricing, but I was looking at different furnaces in early fall.
We narrowed it down to a Lennox model, up pops Amazon with same Canadian model, heat range, etc with free next day delivery to my house??? In the area of $400CD.
We went with a heating contractor, but if you have really good friends............

[ChickenLips]

There is one listed on Kijiji, not sure if it the same as yours

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-heating-cooling-air/hamilton/clare-mega-save-1-high-efficient-furnace-great-garage-heat/1473429992

Sent from my KB2005 using Tapatalk

I've been in contact with him, interesting guy but not compatible.

Thanks for the link, and search effort on my behalf.

[ChickenLips]

To be clear I am not a pro on pricing, but I was looking at different furnaces in early fall.
We narrowed it down to a Lennox model, up pops Amazon with same Canadian model, heat range, etc with free next day delivery to my house??? In the area of $400CD.
We went with a heating contractor, but if you have really good friends............

That's a lot cheaper than I expected. I've not yet given up on repair. My gut level suspicion is that cheap a model will be akin to the cheap on demand water heaters I recently looked into.

[5.4MarkVIII]

Can’t help you out on parts. But lots of caution on “temporary” fixes.

If something happens. Insurance will tell you to stuff it.

If a gas tech sees it. They will tag you and shut you down. Forcing a repair or replace.

If you had a gas guy look at it. And then you temp fix it and something happens you run the risk of insurance blaming the last tech and ruining his life.

If not a keeper house then rent one would be the most cost effective.

[ChickenLips]

Can’t help you out on parts. But lots of caution on “temporary” fixes.

If something happens. Insurance will tell you to stuff it.

If a gas tech sees it. They will tag you and shut you down. Forcing a repair or replace.

If you had a gas guy look at it. And then you temp fix it and something happens you run the risk of insurance blaming the last tech and ruining his life.

If not a keeper house then rent one would be the most cost effective.

Understood, and I take your point.

My manual over ride consists of;

shut off the gas at the plug valve (perfectly legal).

allow vent and blower to run and cool the exchanger, then turn off power to the furnace. Again normal procedure at the end of heating season when switching over to cooling.

I am not jumping controls or any other interventions.

Two gas tech's have been here so far without issue. I had to show the 1st one some of the features and functions. Second one was only here long enough to see the control valve he brought was incorrect. Both saw what I was up to.

I haven't had to intervene yet for the last 2 days, so intermittent to the point of I won't leave it running when not home. I don't believe the high temp cut out is affected and assume the tech's would have spoken up. I'm much like the ships engineer (and most Mustang drivers) in that it doesn't take more than a strange noise or non standard condition long to get my attention. I first discovered this issue when the temp rose 2 degrees above normal.