The cats have been wandering around with black paws and tummies recently, and since they are inside cats we've been wondering where they were finding the dirt. Ed had looked in the basement around the furnace and didn't see anything, but then he checked again yesterday and noticed black powdery stuff. We decided maybe the furnace needed some sort of "tune up," so today we had a furnace guy out. Things started off on a pretty cheery note, with his explaining that we should have been getting the furnace serviced every year, and he would look things over and change the valve and filter that needed changing. So I went back to teaching the kids and left Ed with the furnace guy. This was a mistake. Without my positive thinking to guide them in finding simple, inexpensive type repairs they promptly found a cracked heat exchanger. This heat exchanger is, in the very depressing words of the repair man, the "heart of the furnace." It is the part that, once it is broken, you might just as well buy a whole new furnace because replacing it will cost So much. He and Ed went outside and admired the oily, putrid black smoke which has apparently been billowing from our chimney lately. The repair man wiped a cloth over some surfaces in our house to demonstrate how much black powder has been floating around in our air recently (and, of course, how very infrequently I dust, though he didn't mention that part). Then he turned off the furnace. For good.
The guy from the furnace sales department is supposed to pay us a call in the next day or two to explain to us our future heating options. I don't think that there are going to be any options that will be in keeping with our budget plans but, on the other hand, freezing solid doesn't fit into my plans either.
On the upside, I now have a fairly likely explanation for the awful headaches Travis and I have been getting which does not involve brain tumors! What a relief!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
When It Rains...
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3 comments:
Oh man! That really stinks! Nothing like a huge appliance repair (or replacement) to put a crimp in the budget.
I'm glad you discovered it though - breathing that stuff cannot be a good thing.
Good luck with the rest of the process!
Just be grateful that you have not had CO poisoning, as this can happen with such a flaw in your furnace.
At least, in this deflationary time, you ought to get a good deal on your new furnace. Good luck on managing 'til then!
Keep warm.
Jules,
I was Shocked when Ed told me what new furnaces cost. But as you say, much better than dealing with serious health problems caused by breathing that stuff for a long time!
Elisheva,
The CO thing is puzzling me. I have had a splitting headache for Days now, but the CO monitors we have all over the house all read 0. I sure hope the furnace guys are eager to deal!
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