No Heat? Blame the ice storm again!

We woke up to a rather chilly first floor. It was obvious that the baseboards were downright COLD. I measured 52 degrees F with my trusty and handy infrared thermometer. I suspected the check valve in the return line, so I went to the cellar and beat it with a hammer (right tool for the right job) I tried to listen to the circulating pump and it appeared to be operational.

We are using a programmable thermostat (Honeywell) that produces an audible click when it turns on. I tried cycling the heat and heard the click. I thought I had completed my troubleshooting. It was obvious to me that either the pipe was clogged or that the pump had failed.

After a call to our oil burner experts, they called me back and suggested I check the batteries in the thermostat. I explained that I dutifully change these when we switch back to standard time, but when fresh batteries were installed the heat came on and all is well.

What happened? Apparently the 11 days of no power had an effect on the batteries. They mentioned that they were seeing this problem. Interesting isn't it?