Woke up today and the house was real cold. By mid-morning we'd figured out the furnace wasn't working. When I got home in the afternoon I started troubleshooting it, and by about 4pm I got just far enough to figure out it was probably the igniter. I didn't have time to do a hardware store run to buy a replacement since I had to get dinner ready, so we called a repair guy to come out. When he got here I told him I thought it was the igniter.
Aside from the fact that my house has heat again, the good news is that as he was packing up the repair guy said "You were right, it was the igniter! You want a job?" I got my laughs in before receiving the bad news, which was the nearly $200 charge for installing that $15 part.
I keep telling myself the $200 is also for not having to go to the hardware store, for not having to put myself through the headache of figuring out how to replace the part properly (I've never worked on a furnace before), for not having my wife pissed off and stressed out from having to watch all three kids while I did all that, for being able to sit down and eat dinner with my family, for supporting a guy who works to support his own family, etc. Sometimes remembering the hidden value makes it feel more worthwhile.
Good that it's working. I have been there with no experience working on gas furnaces. The $200 charge reminds me of a story about a factory engineer that retires and goes on to live his life, but is called back by the corporation because nobody can fix an old machine that they rely on for their business to run. The old engineer goes in, takes a long look at the machine, does tests etc., then marks the machine with chalk, indicating the part to replace.
The factory boss is happy, the machine is working, everything is good. Then the factory gets the old engineer's bill for $10,000. They send him a letter asking for an explanation... ???? He sends back a simple breakdown... Chalk mark... $1. Knowing where to put it... $9999. The bill was paid.
As far as my experience, the heat on the thermostat wouldn't turn on for more than a few seconds before shutting off. By the time I turned it on and went to the furnace, it would be off. I didn't know anything about it, but called my Brother in law, who has lived in snow his whole life. He said to go check the vent, which sure enough was completely blocked off by snow. The furnace shut off as a safety measure to block the gas from getting into the house.
Why the builder put the vent a foot off the ground in Montana goes along with why did they do a lot of things in this house that I'm still discovering.
So, that's the first thing you check if you live with snow.