I Fixed My Own Furnace Because a Chatbot Told Me How
It’s been a record cold Michigan winter, much colder than usual. It was below 0 for like 2+ weeks. So of course I panicked when I realized my house couldn’t keep the temperature I set it at. I noticed that it was feeling colder when I felt like I needed a winter jacket inside. I panicked and saw the thermostat slipping 10 degrees lower than what I set it at. Then I realized I couldn’t feel any heat coming out of any of the vents. This is also a new house for me so I wasn’t sure what to do. I was also by myself and it was a winter storm outside.
I usually would’ve just freaked out and panicked. Which I still did but this time I opened up claude and chatgpt and showed them a picture of the thermostat to rule out if the settings looked strange. Then it prompted me to go to where the furnace was. I cycled it and it seemed to start again but it would still shut down mid-cycle.
I sent it pictures of what happened when it quit mid-cycle and both claude and chatgpt said to try and remove the filter. When I did it worked and didn’t quit mid-cycle. I then fully replaced the filter and have not had issues. Remember how I said I freaked out and panicked? Well I did call a hvac tech and he did get a hold of me hours after the fix. I told him what I did and he said that was the correct thing to do.
I have 0 hvac experience. I am a software engineer and a girl that usually would’ve just called her dad for help and I would’ve just waited for the hvac tech if AI wasn’t an option. I also just am not the type of person to be able to fix stuff like a furnace or a car. I also recently had the check engine light come on my truck and thanks to AI was able to diagnose and get help that ended up costing me way less out of pocket then if I would’ve taken it to a mechanic.
This was also outside of business hours and during a winter storm like it would’ve originally set me back somewhere between $150–300. I’m now wrestling with the fact that I know the environmental impacts of using AI but can’t help but realize the savings and just the fact I wasn’t spiraling during this time and could actually do something impactful to help my situation. This also could’ve been a bigger problem because of the cold if I didn’t fix it soon I could’ve easily got a burst frozen pipe problem.
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Here are some questions I’m wrestling with that I don’t have an immediate answer for:
Is this the new normal?
Is what I’m doing that bad?
How will this change businesses going forward?
I’m Marcia, I’m a farmer/agronomist turned software engineer that also runs my own agtech company where I help other businesses and people save time through automation and data.
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