its -20C outside, and my furnace isn't kicking in. help?

[willett]

hey guys,

i'm out in a bush camp northern ontario again and my crappy and ancient atco's furnace isn't doing what it should.

i have a digital thermostat on the wall that is reading out right now at 41 ferenheit.

i would like it to be 70 in here.

it was working well the last few days when it was hovering on the freezing mark outside.

now that the temp has dropped the wont come on.

it is an electric ignition furnace.


earlier i had it kinda working in that instead of climbing up to 70 it would get to the mid 50s and turn off. if i simply dropped the thermostat to below the shown room temp a relay would click somewhere and it would fire up again.

now nothing. the fan comes on for about 3 minutes but no heat.

i tried resetting the power to the unit and it lit for a minute and then quickly turned off.

any suggestions, i'm afraid that i might actually freeze my nuts off if this thing doesnt come on tonight.


i am thinking about trying to bypass the thermostat completly by bridging the leads that come off of it with a peice of copper wire and turning it on and off when necessery.


any help would be greatly appriciated by me and my crew.
-spen