Furnace went out on the coldest night of January in my first house

I closed on my place in October and last week the furnace just died at 2 AM when it was -10 outside. Had to throw on extra blankets and call an emergency HVAC guy who charged $450 just to show up and fix a ignitor. Anyone else have a surprise repair hit right after moving in that they didn't budget for?

3 comments

3 Comments

elliot_johnson311mo ago

And the kicker is, that ignitor is like a $20 part but it's buried behind a panel that takes 45 minutes to get to, so the labor is what kills you. I had a similar thing with my first house - the water heater rusted through and dumped 40 gallons in the basement two weeks after I moved in. The seller's disclosure said it was "working fine" which technically it was until it wasn't. Now I keep a utility fund with about $1,500 in it specifically for that first year surprise tax you pay on being a homeowner.

the_simon3d ago

$1500 is cute until your AC compressor dies in July. Try $3800.

rileyb611mo ago

$1,500 is probably optimistic honestly. I had a furnace die on me three months into my first house and the part was like $60 but it took the guy four hours to get to it because it was crammed behind a duct. Ended up paying almost a grand just for someone to unscrew 47 bolts and one stripped one they had to drill out. Of course the part itself was fine, they just charged me for the struggle.