Tuesday, February 16, 2010

The Only Thing Better Than a Sauna is... If It Weren't My House!

I arrived home from work tonight, with a thousands things on a my mind and a very clear "to do" list for the evening, to an unwelcome surprise.

As soon as I pushed the door open, I immediately knew something was wrong. The waft of warm air that greeted me at the front door was not normal. Those who know me, know my house is cold. Wear an extra sweater and sit under a blanket, cold. Turn the heat on just for company, cold. Warm air should never escape, because often there is no noticeable warm air in my house to begin with. I stepped into the kitchen, and I was engulfed in heat. Insanely hot, sweaty, smells-like-static, costing-me-a-fortune heat.

My furnace was racing, and it appeared my thermostat had long given up keeping pace, let alone controlling it. The temperature reading - "HI". The temperature was easily 100 degrees Farenheit. My thermostat is programmed for 68, and the fan was set to Auto. I turned the heat off, and 10 minutes and a panicked phone call to the bf and Service Experts later, the furncace switched off.

You can imagine my distress, opening every window and door, in mid-February, to cool my house down. I can feel the money being sucked from my bank account as I sit here, waiting for the temperature to return to near-normal. Although the thermastat can finally register the temperature, it's still 90 degrees.

For now, I've decided to wait and see what happens when I turn the furnace back on. My cats were in the basement today, so perhaps they knocked it to the "Haywire" setting. Perhaps, my furnace is shot. Either way, it will cost me $99 just for a specialist from Service Experts to come and check it out. My house may be cooking, but my brain is cool enough to know I should make sure there truly is a problem. Its not like I have no heat and my pipes are freezing. I can afford to see what happens when I turn the furnace back on.

My furnace is due for another maintenance. It's recommended annually, and I haven't had someone in to look at it since 2008. Since it's now 2010.... I am getting the message. Last time I called Service Experts of Niagara, but I doubt they're the cheapest. Does anyone have any suggestions to find a good heating & cooling guy?

3 comments:

  1. I should have come over there tonight for a sleepover! Our house is always sooo cold! (Like yours should be!)

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  2. Hi, I love your blog! Sorry to hear about your furnace trouble, were you able to give Service Experts a call? If not you can use promo code NC01 for $25 off the diagnostic. We look forward to hearing from you! Sam :-)

    http://www.ServiceExperts.com/SamsBlog
    CustomerCare@ServiceExperts.com

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  3. All is well!! It turns out it was just the batteries in my thermastat. We're back to a cool 68 degrees again! That still doesn't mean that I shouldn't book an appointment!

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