Furnace Woes

In an economy going through a downturn, the last thing one wants to hear is "your furnace may stop at any moment because there are cracks through out." And if that isn't enough to hasten the entry into new furnace-land, try this: "it may last through the winter but the real concern is carbon monoxide, even though you have alarms." Oh-oh. In less than a week the house will be filled with all the children and their significant other, plus additional relatives. As things happen, one could predict the furnace would stop on Thanksgiving morning, or worse.

Every fall the two furnaces in this Chicagoland home have been "cleaned" by a somewhat reputable furnace company who swooped in, "cleaned" each furnace and charged $89.99 each. This year they were called -- twice -- and were too busy for such trivial matters. A new furnace company, with 24 hour service was called, and several thousand dollars later, a new larger and more efficient furnace AND humidifier have been installed. Was it a scam? No, unfortunately it was not. This somewhatfortyplus husband saw the inner workings and cracks in the furnace, thanks to the furnace scope. The previous furnace company said a humidifier could never be installed on the old furnace because there was no place for the water (from the humidifier) to drain. In comes the new, young guy with 22 years of experience owning his own company, and he was able to come up with a solution. Better yet, the bigger and more efficient furnace has several rebates which we received, so the humidifier was really free, if you believe that.

The end result is warmth with the needed humidity that comes best from the furnace. The three unsightly standing humidifiers have been put away. While the warmth is reminiscent of a summer day on the beach, we are in Chicagoland, where it will get cold and snowy soon. And, as they say in children's books, they lived happily (and warmly) ever after.

Photo attribution: somewhat frank