There may be some helpful tips in here relating to emergency preparedness and provident living, but I am also doing it to get out some frustrations and to be a little bit lighter. Some of these posts have been pretty heavy, and there are going to be more like that.
We have had two cold snaps recently. The first one was not that bad, but we started to notice that it almost seemed like the furnace wasn't working. We could hear it coming on, and sometimes we would feel warm air, but often we did not feel warm air blowing and the temperature in the house kept being below where it should.
I did try restarting the furnace, and the procedure went fine but it didn't change anything. I believed it was a combination of three factors. The outside temperature kept dropping, so it seemed reasonable that it would also lower the inside temperature, and the furnace would keep trying to play catch-up. Some neighbors were running into a similar issue, so it sounded probable.
In addition, we did not have a great installer when we last replaced the doors and windows, and you can sometimes see daylight through the cracks in the door when it is closed. That would surely cause some issues with heating efficiency. Finally, I thought the heating efficiency issues might also indicate we were overdue for a duct cleaning.
The first cold snap wasn't as bad. It didn't get as cold and we often leave the thermostat around 64 or 66 degrees anyway, so if it stays around 62 you can believe it is just efficiency issues. This last snap disabused us of that notion. It got so cold.
We had scheduled the duct cleaning already, so we only had one or maybe two really cold days before, but it was around 50. That went down while they cleaned the ducts, because that required turning off the heater (which didn't make a huge difference; more on that later) and also leaving the door open for the hose to run out. We got down to 44.
I knew that with a $59 deal for a full, no-limit-on-the-number-of-vents cleaning, there were going to be attempts to up-sell. I can resist that sometimes, but we were cold and desperate and it had been a while since we had done it. I agreed to upgrade from the basic cleaning to the full cleaning (which is about a $600 difference).
I am sure we needed that full cleaning, and I should still install that weather stripping I bought for the doors, but that was not the problem. Our furnace was shutting itself off after a minute. The duct cleaner could see that, and he showed me that, but he couldn't diagnose it or fix it. He thought it was probably a fairly simple electrical issue, but we still weren't going to have heat.
If we upgraded to the VIP contract, they could send in a repair man free. That was $1200 but then that day's cleaning and repair were included, plus annual cleanings for five years. That is probably worth it, and we were cold and desperate. Okay. The repairman was supposed to call by 2 PM. (It was about 11.)
Sam told me to call him if we did not hear by 2. We didn't. I called Sam and he got on the phone; then Jesse called. It would be between 3 and 5. We had made it that far, we could handle a few more hours.
At 5 I called Jesse again. They were running behind - not surprising during a cold snap. Everyone is working their furnaces harder, and that can send things into breakdowns. Okay, we can wait.
At 6 Jesse called and said they could not make it. I expressed my concern about this, and I got a bunch of excuses. One of the big ones was that they wouldn't be able to get parts that night anyway now that the stores were closed. My thing was that he said they would make it that day right up until the point that we weren't going to be able to get anyone else. I called Sam again.
That led to a long conversation with his manager, who defended Jesse a lot, though I disagreed. He said we could buy a couple of space heaters and send the receipt, and he would deduct that from our bill to help get us through the night. We weren't going to be able to get anyone before 11 the next day.
I was ready to break down. I was still fairly happy with the duct cleaning company, but I wanted to murder Jesse. If nothing else I was going to leave scathing feedback - a goal solidified when I searched on the phone number to identify the company and found they were called All Hours Heating and Cooling. Ha!
A friend brought over three space heaters, but we blew two fuses in the process of setting them up. Apparently one circuit can't handle more than one heater. That's okay; I would not want to use a non-electric one. That got us back up from 44 to about 47 by bedtime.
We had other people offer us heaters too, and that would have been more than we could use, but it is nice that people care and are willing to help.
The next day it was Mike who came, which was good because I would have had a hard time being civil to Jesse. However, he came at 9:15 without calling first. I was in bed trying to stay warm. I pulled on clothes really quickly, but he was getting back into his van by the time I got to the door. Good thing I didn't take time to brush my hair (or teeth). Really, why would I have expected accurate scheduling or good communication at that point?
He started his thing, and we got to the root of the problem. Our highly efficient, good furnace has some safety features, including an emergency shutoff in case of flooding. There was some debris in the tray that allowed a condensation buildup that was triggering the water detection sensor. Banging on the furnace might have knocked it loose (so that's why amateur mechanics bang on things!) but cleaning out the tray should work, which he did, and now we have heat again. How about that? He didn't even need to go to the part store!
Obviously this whole thing underscores the importance of regular maintenance, because things do need cleaning, and having the air conditioner serviced (which we did), may not be the same as having the furnace serviced (even though they're connected). So, that's something to keep in mind.
Mainly I just found myself wishing that I knew how to fix everything myself so I would never have to deal with people again because I hate them so much! But that's not really true. I really just hate Jesse.
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