Yesterday, while helping my d-i-l with the kiddies, we were sitting happily having a cup of tea in the living room when all of a sudden, a stinky smell came belching out of the air ducts. We immediately bundled up the kids, called 911 and waited outside in the freezing cold for the fire truck. Four huge guys in enormous boots tramped into the house with gadgets and flashlights and announced that there was indeed something wrong with the furnace and shut it off. We called the gas company. Yes, the motor on the furnace had died, hence the smell of burning dirt as the air exchange had overheated and then shut down. And by this time, 2 policemen had turned up as well, adding to the excitement.
Anyway, by the time my son had returned from Calgary late last night, the house temperature had dropped to about 18 and the new motor wouldn't be installed until Monday.
Why is it that if the furnace or air conditioners decide to die, they always manage to do so on the days that we need them the most? We're in the middle of an unusual cold snap here with overnight temperatures down to minus ten. Fortunately, the gas fireplace and three small space heaters kept everyone reasonably comfortable.
And now my son is sick as well as little Vanessa who has picked up the inevitable bug from her first week at pre-school, and the baby is stuffed up. Just another little drama...
Tina, the furnace thing happened at my son's house. I came home to my nice warm house and Tony and his family sttayed at theirs, but with the gas fireplace it didn't get too bad. Eighteen degrees is only a couple of degrees cooler than where they usually set the thermostat anyway. Thank goodness!
He just called me to tell me the latest in his furnace saga. Turns out they have some brand that is notorious for conking and the replacemenet part is expensive. Since they are planning an addition (going up a level and adding 5 bedrooms) they were advised to buy a new furnace instead of fixing the old one, and to get one large enough to heat the new house.
Unfortunately, Tony works for an American company, and his pay cheques are in US dollars, which means he has taken a nasty hit because of the value of the Canadian dollar these days, so they're feeling "poor" right now. I suggested that they get the new one and put it on the "never-never" plan, paying it off over a long time. I think that's what they'll do.
oh those things are so scary. I remember once, we had a scare with gas. We were living in the trailer at the time. We'd just gotten our dryer and Floyd was doing a load of clothes when we heard a whistling noise and the whole house filled with gas. Bethany was just a few months old so I wrapped her up and ran out as quickly as possible. This was a really nice trailer, but still a trailer, so if it had caught fire it'd be no time before the whole thing was gone. Luckily I grew up in the house and knew exactly where all of the turn offs and everything were like the back of my hand. I called 911 and Beth and I hung out in the nice warm cop car (my first time ever in a cop car funny huh) while the fire and protection folks got everything taken care of. Luckily for us it was a quick and easy fix. We just had to replace a 10 dollar hose, but it was very scary.
I have the world's most sensitive nose and can always smell a gas leak when no one else can.
One time in our old house, the gas heaterin the garage had been bumped and was leaking. We had never used it, so the gas company came out and permanently shut it off
Then in our new house I smelled it by the stove. No one believed me, until the gas company said "yes, the connection was loose!"
Kae, I'm glad to hear it was just burning dirt, and not a more deadly thing. And I hate their furnace has went out. Not the best time of year for that to happen.
