Chris Lyons

What is the make and model number of your furnace?  

Fixed!  New gas valve installed and replaced the anode.  The bottom of the tank was covered in sludge from the aluminum anode.  I replaced it with a magnesium one.  I also cleaned out the burn chamber which had lots of rust and debris.  

As far as I know the thermostat is working.  When it clicks on the burner roars.  When it clicks off a little bit of gas leaks through the gas valve.  It looks like a sooty candle flame.  I did some banging on the heater and the leak is much smaller now.  This tells me the gas valve is sticking inside.

Thanks, I ordered the gas valve and an anode.  Mine won't shut off completely.  Always a sooty flame dancing at the orifice.

That's great!  Sometimes the experts are not the experts.  Could you please share where you found the part?  I have a similar water heater and I see the gas valve listed at $179 which I think is too much.

Did the new part fix it?

When I lived in the northeast, to offset the cost of natural gas I built a veggie-oil burner and heated my house for several years that way.  I bought used vegetable oil from a gentleman who  converted his Mercedes diesel to run on vegetable oil.  So having hundreds of gallons of used oil on hand I experimented and made soap.  Wonderful unscented soap.  It doesn't matter if the oil smells like fish and onions.  It won't after being converted to soap.  You could also use your oil in a home made oil lamp such as these:
https://modernsurvivalblog.com/alternative-energy/do-it-yourself-olive-oil-lamp/

Looks like a lot of work goes into those $300 boxes. They do look nice. I'll take the $20 plywood box .

Stepables might have something usable. All kinds of plants that take foot traffic. The low light and dry category might work well.


http://www.stepables.com/

You don't need sunshine or anything fancy to dry clothes. A simple line in the basement is what I use when it's raining or during winter when it's too cold out.