Cold and Ice

Friday:  Home from work.  Dinner prep begins.  60 degree default thermostat setting feels COLD.  Argue with self over saving money/New England Yankee/cheap/cold/warm.  Decide I can splurge and turn the heat up.  

Turn the heat up.  Listen for furnace.  No fan noise happens for....30 seconds?  I check the thermostat.  The house temperature is 52 degrees.

Mr. E flips the circuit breaker.  We inspect the furnace.  Dead as a smelt, as they say up North.

Call emergency service.  Man comes out.  Broken fan.  (Damn the engineer to all perdition who decided to save money for the company by making the fins out of plastic rather than metal.)  No fix tonight, 50/50 chance of finding the part Saturday morning.  

We were to leave for NYC early Saturday morning.  Mr. E had professional commitments.  The instant I saw the thermometer at 52 degrees, I could see how this would play out.  I cancel my train reservations.  (Amtrak f*ckers deduct $16 if you opt for a refund.)  Mr. E waves semi-gaily at me the next morning as he motors off.

Repair guy comes to replace fan.  By noon, I have heat.

I invite a friend over for dinner and spinning.  (Bless you, friend, you were the bright spot in the universe this weekend past.)  We finish dinner.  We are spinning.  Through the floor, we hear a horrific racket coming from a machine in the basement.  I race downstairs.  Yes, it is the furnace.  It sounds like a broken fan (*RATTLE*RATTLE* of plastic parts hitting each other).  I turn off the furnace.  

The forecast is for 22 degrees Saturday night.  Joy.  Friend leaves when hands are too cold to spin happily.  I wish I could have joined her.  

Huddle in bed, cold, wearing every fleece garment I own.  Sunday morning, repairman finds fin of old fan in new fan, rattling around.  Removes fin, blows out pipe it inexplicably lodged in, and puts it all back together.  Heat.  Blessed heat.

No pipes froze.  I did, part of the time.  My trip to NYC was gonzo.  I resisted peer pressure to hop on the Saturday evening train, and bop off to the city.  (Did I have a feeling it would die again?  Probably.)

Survivor finale.  Denise wins.  Any of the final four could have won, and I would have been happy.  I still love Survivor.

I wake up this morning to a world of ice.  Beautiful.  Treacherous.  (Full sentences unnecessary today.)  Hawthorne berries, trapped.

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Carole]

No heat is definitely one of those firstworldproblems but when it happens to you and it's really cold it's huge. I'm glad things are fixed but I'm sorry your weekend got spoiled.

[margene]

The furnace always goes out on the coldest day and at the most inopportune time. Why oh why do things always need to be done twice?
I was very happy to see Denise win and agree with you on the final 4. The reason we started watching is because you said you liked it.

[Caroline M]

Hot water bottle? They're not just for knitting covers for but essential when it's so cold that you can't get warm.

[Julie]

I heartily second that hot water bottle comment. More than once those saved me when the power was out. (tho I do have a gas stove, if you don't, it might not be so miraculous).

[Marcia]

I still love Survivor, too...so how the hell did I manage to miss the bloody finale?! Maybe I can catch it on the iPad to treadmill to. Been there, done that with the furnace, more than I can count.

[Manise]

When a furnace dies and a house gets cold, it's COLD! Interestingly our heat when kaflooie on Friday night too with an emergency call just before midnight. Same symptoms- no heat, fan cajoled to run then a puff of nasty smells belching from the registers and a tripped breaker. Diagnosis: Blown computer board. Fortunately our fix was much quicker. So sorry you missed out on the NYC weekend. :-(

Pleased that Denise won too.

[claudia]

Brr... S used to be quite stingy with the degrees, but not so much anymore. Our thermostat is usually set closer to 70 than 60.

[gayle]

I've always wondered why temps in the 50's outdoors feel warm, but the same temps indoors mean you need every sweater you own. (And a couple of blankets. And it still isn't enough.)
So sorry about your weekend. 8(

[kmkat]

There are times when winter is rather less fun than others. Glad you finally have heat.

[Melissa G]

Yes, inside cold feels different (& more penetrating, less tolerable) than outside cold. Think of ski temps.

Pretty berries. (Continuing incompletes.)

[Cecilia]

I had the same problem. My furnace went out at the beginning of the winter season, and I had to call someone to come in and replace it. Luckily, the company I worked with was wonderful and I got a new furnace in no time. So glad everything worked out for you as well!