Here's how it all started:
We bought our house last year in August. The house was built in 1957 and the furnace is the original that came with the house. It is built right in to the wall of our closet. No ducts or vents in the house, just this centralized dinosaur that made me wonder if it would heat my house or burn it down.
Cue Winter 2009-
We tried to start the furnace and it didn't seem to be working. We could hear the burners turn on, but never heard any blowers start or anything like that. We figured it was broken. Because our funds were low last year, we braved last winter with space heaters and LOTS of hot chocolate. But we endured knowing we would install a new furnace before next winter.
Cue Winter 2010-
The winter started early and freaking FROZE everything under the sun! It's like the Polar Ice Cap down here. Single digit temperatures and biting winds make for terrible days and worse nights. Well, we had been saving all summer for this furnace, but had continued to put off calling for quotes. We started up our space heaters and were determined to get a new furnace installed ASAP.
The quotes started coming in and my eyes started popping out of my head. I couldn't believe how much companies wanted to charge to put in a new furnace. Blaine was not happy about the prices either. So, he just decided to light the pilot light this hope that the burners would somehow help with heating the home- if even just a LITTE bit. We had closed our door the night before to keep some of the warmth in our room as we went to sleep. We woke up the next morning and opened our door and voilà-a WARM HOUSE!
Apparently our furnace is like a radiant heat furnace (which we didn't know since our house did not come with an instruction manual) and it had warmed our house to 70 degrees over night.
Now, we feel a little silly that we didn't have it running all last winter. But I don't care. My house is now warm. It hasn't burned down. And I can finally emerge from my blanket cocoon to get some things done.
Hey Sani - It's Alleta!!
ReplyDeleteIf you guys ever want to really replace your furnace we've gone with one company who has been cheaper than anyone else. They installed an A/C unit in our new house and a furnace and duct work throughout our old house. Let me know if you want me to dig up their info (Company name=Airtime). Even though your wall unit still works.. I would keep working towards replacing it. I have heard they commonly set houses on fire.
Space heaters are MUCH more expensive to run than a central unit (had to do that in the upstairs at our old house). Our utility bills are about the same or less at our new house and this place is almost twice the size.
Nice to see you in the Blog world. I have been blogging for a few years now. I also debated what to write. I have a LOT of gripes that are probably better worked out in my head than online.