Since last weekend (6 days ago) we have had no heat in our house. This wouldn’t be a problem if it were June but since it’s January in Cleveland and the current temp is 11*, this has been a problem. Thank goodness we have friends and family close or we would be racking up the hotel points. Come to think of it, I think Brady broke our furnace on purpose because he missed living with my parents. 🙂
So last weekend we got home from Columbus to find our house 40 degrees – on the inside. We knew something was wrong but we were hoping it was just a switch that needed flipped or a filter that needed changed. Unfortunately for us, neither of those things were the problem. The problem was that our heat exchanger had gone bad. By the way, I am now a self proclaimed expert on furnaces and all of their parts so feel free to consult me for your heating troubles. This meant that the whole inside of our furnace had cracked and was no longer safe or operable.
So, we had two options. 1 – we could wait almost 3 weeks for the new heat exchanger (aka the whole new inside of the furnace) to arrive and be put into our 10+ year old unit or 2 – we could buy a new furnace and hope it could get delivered this week. We opted for option 2 and were thankful our pipes didn’t freeze before now.
Here are a few random things learned in the process of this all. Why do many of them have to do with food? Well, that is because I was home all day in the 39* while they put in our furnace and Anna was at my mom’s. I got down and dirty with cleaning out my pantry – in my gloves, hat and scarf.
1. I should quit teaching 6 fitness classes a week and start selling some of the dried beans in my pantry. Not only would selling this surplus earn me some money it would also clear quite a bit of space in my pantry!
On the menu next week: Bean soup. You think I am kidding, but I’m not.
2. It’s time to let go of the SUPERSIZE bag of knock-off Splenda I have had for about 4 years. I am not going to eat it nor am I going to make anything that I would serve anyone I like with it. It’s just a giant bag of chemicals taking up too much space.
3. This $50 space heater will NOT in fact heat a large or even small house like the insurance company claims it will. If it did, I am guessing people would be buying them instead of spending thousands and thousands to replace their furnace. Someone should tell the insurance companies this. I tried.
4. When your house is colder than your fridge, you don’t have to worry about your food spoiling. If you want to keep your coffee from getting too cold, put it in your fridge.
5. Gloves are an absolute necessity in a house with no heat. Just a reminder.
6. In college and after college I would go through cases of popcorn. I would literally eat a bag a day for a snack or with lunch and therefore need an entire large plastic container just for popcorn alone. Things have changed and this box needs to now be used for puzzle pieces and legos.
7. My pantry and fridge are probabaly very happy for this to have happened because there is no way I would normally dedicate my Friday to this project.
Stay warm. Enjoy the weekend!
