The Heating & AC Blog

I was talking to a young woman the other day, and she wanted to know if I really fixed furnaces and air conditioning units.

I told her I could, but I seldom took on a job unless they called the house and made an appointment. She asked for my business card, but I had none. I freelanced as an HVAC repair person, and never said I was an HVAC technician. She said she knew someone who told her I was an HVAC technician. I wanted to know who told her that, but I didn’t want to sound aggressive. I had heard this before. She gave me a name, and it was one I knew well. I called my sister when I got home and asked her why she was telling people I was an HVAC technician? She chuckled and only said that I was. I was in another lifetime, but I gave it up five years ago. I only worked on HVAC systems for my family. I had differences with one of my coworkers, and I was the one who was in trouble. They told me I was a troublemaker, and I had to go, so I left that day. I missed working in an HVAC company, but this was something I couldn’t help. I couldn’t change that I was a woman, but I could change where I worked. Unfortunately, my boss told all the local HVAC company owners that I was trouble, because he took the word of a male HVAC technician over me. He said I was flirting and taking all the simpler repair jobs, by promising I would go out with the men, but I never went through with the promises. I was engaged and didn’t need that kind of gossip and hatred following me around.

new heating

My best friends wanted to go camping one more time this year.

I reminded them it had already snowed, and we hadn’t had a single temperature above freezing for the last two weeks.

Jack told me it was supposed to be forty-two this weekend, and I was going camping with them. I shook my head and told them that camping was for the spring, summer, and early fall. I wasn’t going camping and freezing my butt off. They said we’ll see and left the house. I couldn’t believe they thought I would go camping during the winter. I wasn’t foolish, and I enjoyed staying home and staying warm. Jack called when he got home and asked if I was sure I didn’t want to go camping? If there was a cabin with a fireplace or HVAC system installed, I would go. I wanted to go ice fishing, but I didn’t want to sleep in the cold. I asked if they were going to have a cabin with a fireplace or HVAC system? He wasn’t sure, but he said there were portable space heaters they could put in the tent. I would still be asleep on the frozen ground, and I didn’t want to wake up as a popsicle. I was going to stay home and watch it snow through my windows. I had excellent heating, and if they wanted to freeze to death, that was their choice. Jack asked if he could stay at my house over the weekend. He didn’t want to go camping either, but he didn’t want to stay home alone. Both of his older brothers were going camping. I forgot Jack was only fourteen.

 

heating and cooling service

When summer was hot and the temperatures were in the nineties, I remember praying for the cold and snow. I had enough of summer, and I was ready for winter. The air conditioning unit couldn’t keep up with the heat and humidity and it was miserable in our house. Cold and snow sounded like a welcome reprieve. It is the middle of November, and it has been as cold as mid-January for most of it. We had almost four feet of snow on the ground, from the five feet of snow we had two days earlier. I was looking outside and thinking about how beautiful the winter wonderland was, and then I remembered it wasn’t winter yet. We still had at least four more months of winter weather to get through. I wondered if someone wasn’t listening when I prayed for this weather, and took me literal. My furnace had been cleaned and serviced, but I wasn’t ready for winter. I would have loved this weather for Christmas. We would have pulled out our big sled and hitched the horse to it. The kids, my husband and I would wrap up in blankets and turn on the space heaters to keep our feet warm. All snuggled in the sled, we would ride across the fields to visit my mom and grandparents. This was one of the greatest joys of living in the country. The space heaters kept us fairly warm, and we all sang on the way. I was hoping for that at Christmas, but not before Thanksgiving. I turned up the thermostat and sighed. Winter was definitely early this year, and it was because of me.

 

furnace filter

I said they didn’t know, but they were coming tomorrow to look at the component and make sure there were no stress cracks.

I was listening to the noise last week, and they were talking about furnace recalls. Our furnace had no glitches, and we had it for three years. I couldn’t believe there was anything wrong with it that would mandate a recall. Two hours later, I got a phone call from the HVAC company. She told me there was a recall on all furnaces from this one company, and we had one of them. There was a component inside that had a manufacturer defect. Not all of them were doing it, but that component was cracking without stress and it could put carbon monoxide into the air. They had already ordered me a new furnace and would come to the house and install it as soon as they delivered it. There was no charge for the installation or the furnace, and they would return the old furnace to the manufacturer. When my husband got home, I told him about the recall. He didn’t seem to be concerned and asked if they knew how long it would take for the furnace to be delivered. I said they didn’t know, but they were coming tomorrow to look at the component and make sure there were no stress cracks. He asked if I had packed for us? I looked at him oddly, and he said we were going to a hotel until the new furnace was installed. He didn’t want his wife and kids dying from carbon monoxide poisoning. The kids thought we were going on vacation, so we did. We took them to a hotel that had a water park inside.

 

 

programmable thermostat

My husband had been doing all the servicing for the air conditioning unit, ever since the warranty ended. He wanted to save a bit of money and he was good at what he did. The HVAC technician came out and showed him what to do, and told him he did everything perfectly. Last week, he told me he wanted to shake things up. I thought he was going to go to work on Monday and make some changes. I was totally wrong. He planned on going into the basement over the weekend, and figuring out how to service the furnace. He had the laptop open, and the HVAC company’s website was open to the HOW TO page. He was going to try to clean the furnace and the opening to the ductwork. I wasn’t so sure about this. I asked if he wanted me to call the HVAC company and see if Bob was working. He said he had already asked if Bob was working, and he was away with his family for the weekend. He was going to do this on his own. I worried, because the furnace was already running. What if he forgot to turn the power off first? What if he got burnt, or the oil built up in the furnace and it exploded when he restarted it? What if he got inside and broke something, and the furnace wouldn’t work at all? It wasn’t extremely cold yet, but it was cold enough that we needed some heat. My husband said I had to have faith in him. I had faith, but that faith led to having faith that he knew nothing about the furnace.

air conditioning filter

For her birthday, my sister bought a painting set for my five-year-old daughter.

I don’t know what gets into the mind of a child, but mine can get very creative.

Last year, she was making a dollhouse out of mud. She buried her doll’s feet in the mud so they wouldn’t tip over and started playing. I was scared to think what she would do with a painting set. When I came home from work the next day, I couldn’t hear my daughter. My sister, who babysits for me, was sitting on the sofa watching television and reading a book. I asked her where Mary was. She said she was up in her room napping, but she heard get up about ten minutes ago. I went upstairs and screamed for my sister. My daughter was on a chair painting her bedroom with the painting set. She had painted the air vent cover several colors, and she was now working on the thermostat. It was pink and purple. She even painted the dial on the thermostat, and I couldn’t see the temperature. Since my sister bought her the painting set, I told her it was up to her to clean the air vent and the thermostat. She wasn’t happy, but I didn’t care. Buying a painting set for a five-year-old, and then leaving them unsupervised with it in reach, was stupid. Since the heat was on, the paint was difficult to get off the air vent cover, and I was slowly getting it off the thermostat. My daughter was sitting on the bed and complaining we ruined her room.

company

My mother-in-law was a tough cookie.

She tells everyone she wants nothing done for her.

She says she’ll eat anything, but she taste tests it before eating. Last week, she complained about how cold it was in her bedroom. My husband was bending over backwards to keep her comfortable. On his way home from work, he stopped by the home center and bought a space heater. The space heater had every comfort and safety feature you could get for a space heater. She used it one night and told him to get it out of her bedroom. It made too much noise, didn’t heat well enough, and she thought it was ugly. He took that space heater back to the store after work and looked for another one. This one had all the safety and comfort features, but it was almost $50 more. He hooked the space heater that evening, and it had her room warm within fifteen minutes. When we got up the next morning. The space heater was sitting out in the hallway. She told my husband that if that is the best they had at that store, she would rather freeze to death. I wanted to tell her she was an ungrateful witch, but my husband grabbed my hand. He packed up the space heater and took it back to the store. He found an oil-filled space heater that looked like an old iron radiator. I thought it was ugly, but she loved it. My husband set the space heater in her room and set the thermostat. She slept all night, and told my husband she liked it, but he didn’t need to buy it.
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