Derek Cole tackles weak furnace heat, frozen condensate lines, and fans that won't shut off. He recommends checking for duct leaks, insulating drain pipes, and getting a service call for continuous fan operation. He also defines character as what you do when nobody's watching.
Hey, on this episode it gets weird. You ask your comfort and energy questions and they get answered. This is the Ask Derrick Cole Show. Hey, this is Derrick Cole. Welcome to episode 56 of the Ask Derrick Cole Show, answering your home energy and personal questions apparently, because we'll be getting a few of those. Via Periscope right now. Thank you for the fun. Hey, we got a big game Friday night. Richmond Raiders come into Pate Stadium, Scotland High School, for the conference championship. It's gonna be huge. It's gonna be big. It's gonna be like beyond big. It's gonna be like 10,000 people big. Like, get your Get your tickets, stand in line tomorrow, big.
Clarify when tickets go on sale.
So, uh, with that, we'll get into the show.
My hot air gas furnace seems to ignite okay, and the fan runs okay, and the thermostat. However, the air from the vents does not seem very warm. It takes a long time to heat the house. I have had the pilot light go out a couple of times. What other part would affect the air heating? How can I check it or repair it?
So what I would do and recommend is have a technician come out, check your furnace to make sure everything's good to go. If everything checks out there, check your ductwork, because the reason you're probably not getting warm air is because it is sucking in cool air from under your house or in the basement, wherever it is. So holes in your duct system causing cool air to mix with the warm air, therefore you have cooler air in your home. So I would check out the duct system as well as the unit, but the question is probably more slanted to your duct system. Make sure everything is sealed, everything is together. There's not anything falling down or a big hole in anything as well. So they can check all that when they come out just to make sure everything's good to go.
My furnace condensate drain pipe and AC drain pipe are hooked together. I have had a problem with the drain freezing where it exits the foundation. This protrudes about 3 inches. Have any solutions for this problem?
Yes, you need to insulate the drain line. Whoever installed the system or services the system can insulate that drain line. And it's just pipe insulation that goes over the drain line and will prevent it from freezing when it gets below, you know, freezing that time of year. Because a condensate drain or a condensate furnace is always going to have water attached to it so for it to operate. It needs to have water going out of it. So what you have to do is make sure that line is insulated if it is going under the house, through the wall, any outside exposure because that cold air is then coming into that pipe and that's why you're having the freezing problem. So insulate the drain line and you should be good to go.
My fan runs continuously after my heat turns off. And it gets cold in my house. Do you have any ideas on how to fix this problem?
Well, you have two things going on. One is not a problem and one is normal. Uh, so the normal operation is that fan is going to stay on for 30, 45 seconds, whatever it's programmed to, after the heat is off, uh, to cool down the heat exchanger and the components after it it heated everything up, so it does need to cool back down. If it is continually running and not turning back off, then you need to get it checked out and you're having a problem. It could be a communication problem, a board problem, something is getting the signal wrong where it's not telling, okay, it's time to shut off now. But on this system, it is normal, 30, 45 seconds for that, or even a minute. For that fan to keep running after the heat is off to make sure everything's cooled down and shut down properly.
What personal instruction do you have for character building?
Character building. Um, yeah, character building. I don't know if I have any personal instructions on what you should do to build your character. I think I probably have a different definition than most. I think of character as more of what are you doing when no one's watching kind of a deal. Are you doing the right things even though no one sees you doing the right thing? Or are you just putting on a show for everybody to see because you know you're being watched? So I don't know how teachable that is. It's probably the way you were raised a little bit as well. Always do the right thing, always serve others, always be willing to help. So that's my personal definition. I'm sure it differs a little bit than the standard character definition. But I mean, what are you doing when people are not watching? Are you going the extra step? Are you making sure grandma's house is clean when you walk out the door and no one's home? Are you making sure you put gas? If you borrow somebody's car, if you fill it up with gas, when you hand it back to them, I mean, all these little things are just, you know, little extras that you should be doing. Because if somebody does something for you, you want to do something for them, and you want to do it beyond what they're doing for you. Not trying to one-up them or trying to, you know, be better just to say you're better. It's just a show, in my opinion, a show of appreciation. You know, my parents let me borrow the car, I give back to them with a full tank of gas. So I drove my mom's car to Charlotte a few weeks ago. I gave back to her with a full tank of gas. Now she was at like 3/4 or a quarter of a tank left, I think. So she had plenty, but still, I was just going the extra step to say thank you, appreciate it, here's Here it is better than what I got it in. So you wash somebody's lawnmower, you clean it, put gas back in it, give back to them. Um, I don't know what the question was, but building character, uh, that's what you should be doing. Um, so that's all I got.
If you could describe yourself as an animal, what would it be?
We've gotten really personal on this show today. Um, what animal best describes me? I would go with the cat.
Okay, he's a cat person.
I'm always going cat. Cat versus dog. Um, you know what, I have a dog. It's fine. I love dogs. A lot of people have dogs watching the show, and that's fine. That's cool. A lot of people also have cats. I would say personally I'm more of a cat kind of a person than a dog person. Meaning— meaning that, you know, when you get home, the dog's always excited to see you, like, oh! And then you walk outside and come back and he's still excited, like, oh, you're back! And the cat's just like, whatever. They're just doing their own deal, walk around the house. Where's my food at? Where's the litter box? What's the problem? Yeah, so the cat's kind of more of the, uh, you gotta really work for the affection. Um, I guess that's the way I am. Please tell me that's it. Yep. All right, that is episode 56. Hope you enjoyed the part hitting an air question, and the main part, personal question and opinions. But we do it all here. We do it all just for you. So hashtag any question you have.
Well, it's like Eric305 or whatever his name was. It looks like we have fun.
Yes, we have a lot of fun here. So hashtag anything, ask Derek Cole, personal, home, energy, I would prefer the home energy question, but I'll answer— you got a personal question, I'll go there. So we'll take it there.
You might have to work for the answer.
Yeah, hashtag it #AskDerekCole, we'll get it on the show.
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