Sounds silly, but seriously. We moved into a house (we're renting). The owner, as sweet as she is, doesn't seem to be very well informed about much, plus a language barrier is there (she's French). So, we see where the air conditioner is - outside - check. The water heater is in the garage - check. There's enough room for the heater next to the water heater, but nothing is there and has never been there. We've looked in every closet, every room, throughout the 3-car garage, in crawl spaces, all perimeters of the house - nothing! We turned the heater on to see if there was one at all, and it turned on. The air condtioner outside is not part of it, for sure. Oh, and we do have a gas fireplace, but there's nothing near, around or in the walls to indicate a heater. I would think it would have to be accessable just to be able to relight the pilot, or do maintenance on it, right?
Has anyone else ever had this situation? We're really stumped. I don't even know where online to look for a number or layout of the house or anything to see if I can figure it out!
This is probably pretty silly and I'll kick myself when we figure it out, but if any of you have suggestions, I'm open to them! lol
Thanks, everyone!
L.
I'd say it's in the outdoor unit. Especially since there is an empty closet in the main area where it should be. I bet they changed it out years ago. Otherwise they use the fireplace for heat.
Turn it on with complete silence in your house. Then walk and listen. You'll hear it.
It's probably all one unit with your A/C. Ours is.
Are your sure the outside unit is not a heat pump?
They can both heat and cool - the thermostat would have both heat and cool settings.
If that doesn't help you, check out the circuit box.
A forced air heating system usually has some sort of a blower to circulate the air.
See if the circuit box can help you figure out what part of the house it's in.
OR (I just thought back to our old house), do they have base board heat registers or any sort of radiators or is it possible they have radiant floor heating (the floor will just get warm - this might not make any noise at all)?
Is there anyway to find out who last did any maintenance on the house (look for service stickers on units)?
They might be able to tell you a lot more.
I would assume that the furnace is in the attic.
Since she's French - try this:
Where is the furnace?
Où se trouve la fournaise?
We would like to know where the heater is
nous aimerions savoir où le chauffage est
Good luck!
Maybe it's a heat pump?
and please post where it is when you find it - now i'm really curious
How do you know it isn't part of the A/C unit outside? Ours is.
Have you looked in the attic ? that is where we had ours put when we installed central heat & air.
Is it in the attic space? That's where ours is!
Did you look in the attic? My first house had a gas furnace located in the attic.
Our heat and a/c is in the same unit. Its a heat pump system. Very common in the south.
Is it just a thermostat knob on the wall? I used to rent a house in CA where each room had a thermostat knob on the wall, but there were no vents. I swear I lived there five years before I bothered to try it. It worked! There were some kind of heating element IN the walls. (I guess it kind of worked like an electric blanket.) I've never lived in another home that had the same kind of heating system. Let us know if you get it figured out!
Others have said it, but I will repeat it. Heat pump/combo with AC. Electric. 'Nuff said.
Heat pump? The AC is the heater.
is it in pipes under the flooring in the form of hot water? Radiant heat?
Could it be electric heat?
When you say you turned the heater on, what did you turn on? Do you mean that you turned up the thermostat and it got warm? Where did the heat come from? If it came from the same vents that the AC came through, then I would think that they are integrated. If you have baseboards, then you may have forced hot water, which is what I have, in which case the water heater is the heater.
Have you looked in the attic? The house I had with my X down in Texas, the AC/Furnace was in the attic.
Best of luck finding it.
You could always call a heat & ac place & ask them how to find it, if it isn't in your attic.
Is your heat in the floor? You should have a thermostat, if you have heat, even it's from the floor...
It sounds like you have ceiling heat, or possibly floor heat. When you turned on the heat, via thermostat, I assume, did you hear anything, like a fan, for instance? If there was no sound and there are no floor vents, then it's not a furnace located some weird place. Did you notice the top of your head getting warm? If so, ceiling heat. There was a big fad for it during the 1970s. If your house was built back then, that is a strong possibility. If the house is more recent, it might be floor heat. What kind of floor material does it have? Does the floor feel warm to bare feet?
I have no experience with gas heat, so I can't help you there.
