It was pretty nippy last weekend. We were visiting a friend in Connecticut, and there was concern over some furnace trouble as the temperatures dropped to -3 F (-19.44 C). Our friend rigged the furnace to keep it working until they got the motor fixed, which worked pretty well. I joked with my co-workers on Monday that I was leaving that cold to head to the tropics of home, where were supposed to be up to 22 F(-5.56 C). What I didn’t realize was that while we were gone, our furnace had quit as well. And it was still pretty snowy.
When we stepped into our home, it was 38 F (3.33 C) degrees inside. Fortunately Hudi (who was at the house) had warned us so we were braced for the blast. And we are fortunate enough to live in a large house with two furnaces so we did everything we could to prevent pipes from freezing. Heated up water on the stove, got faucets dripping, etc.
Chris figured out the issue but couldn’t get a replacement part at that time since stores were closed. There is a little bearing in the furnace that rotates, and it affects the turn-on and shut-off workings of the furnace. If you want to know the real technical explanation, ask Chris. I got the concept of it, but not the solution. Basically something that has been spinning for 20 years, keeping the furnace funning, decided to quit. The good news was that we didn’t have to worry about our food spoiling. It was definitely nice and cold.
While we had heat on the other side of the house, it was still very cold, since that one furnace wasn’t enough to combat the cold coming from the other half of the house. I snuggled into my military-grade sleeping bag for the night.
You know what’s funny? I find it rare to have no heat yet still have electricity. By instinct, whenever I went downstairs after dark, I was using my phone as a flashlight. The mind does weird things, eh?
The next day Chris called a store in Adams who referred us to a store in Watertown. John from Sid Harvey’s told us he could get the part the next day. As we mentally braced for another cold day, we got a call. It was John suggesting a shop in Syracuse that might have our part. Wasn’t that kind of him? Chris drove to get it, and two hours later we had heat.
It’s truly amazing how warm a 50 F-degree (10 C) living room felt after that experience (as it was still warming up). Usually I freeze if it’s under 68F/20C. It felt soooooo good. And I am very, very thankful for heat and for a husband that knew how to fix our furnace.
