My furnace has been out...

Discussion in 'The Chatterbox' started by Mama Bear, Feb 12, 2007.

  1. Mama Bear

    Mama Bear New Member

    My furnace quit working properly about a week and a half ago when we get hit with the 30 degree below weather... It is functioning to the point where it hasn't gotten below freezing in the house and I am lucky enough to have fireplaces...

    The HVAC company is going to come out (finally) on Wednesday to fix it.. and I can't wait~! I have gained a new appreciation for depending on firewood instead of a fire being a luxury and have spent more than a week huddled next to mine. These guys couldn't make it out here until Wednesday because they say there are a lot of people with no heat at all and no fireplaces and they put my job in on a triage basis, like at the hospital.

    They did however tell me if I wanted to buy a new one it could go in the next day... :eek:

    Does anyone know of people without heat and what can be done for them? This has been a real eye opener for me..... it is one more thing in life that I have taken for granted.... do you know??
     
  2. PalmettoB

    PalmettoB The Old Guard

    Whoa! Sue, take care. Hope you don't have any pipes freeze or anything else go wrong while your heat is out.

    Nice you have a fireplace, though. I have wondered several times what we would do if our power was out for more than a few hours, since we have electric heat, and no wood stove or fireplace. (And I hate kerosene heaters.)
     
  3. Mama Bear

    Mama Bear New Member

    I fell asleep once with a kerosine heater going in my bedroom. I woke up gasping for breath and the flame on the heater was almost out.. I opened the bedroom door and the flame burst back to life again and I could breathe... I have never used one since... it has been 25 years....
     
  4. SSLSTudio...

    SSLSTudio... Forum Debugger

    - 30 !!!!!!! :eek:

    That is brutal cold , we have a pretty new furnace installed here I think its 4 years old or so still sometimes it will make an error and stop pumping hot water and you just reset the thing.
    Id be carefull indeed if the water freezes and your pipes start to crack your in for trouble.

    Well you have a fireplace atleast , I have one aswell here and you have Tank id say cozy up ?
     
  5. fuerein

    fuerein New Member

    I don't use my heater at all during the winter, one of the nice things about having a relatively high resistance to cold and living in a large apartment building. Whatever heat leaches into my apartment from the neighbors (honestly probably not that much the place is fairly well insulated) is enough to keep my apartment cool but still livable add to that I have no qualms about sitting on the couch under an old quilt... I do have a sun room in my apartment with huge floor to ceiling bay window that would be an issue if it weren't for the fact that I have sliding glass doors going into the sunroom, with those doors closed all winter it works as a nice insulator between my apartment and the outdoors.

    As for what to do for those who, unlike me, are without heat but not of their own volition, I know my gas company has a little check box on the bill each month where you can choose to donate to their fund for "heating gas for the poor" (or whatever the name is) fund, you just enclose it with your monthly payment.
     
  6. qhsdoitall

    qhsdoitall Wilbur

    Sorry to hear about your furnace troubles Sue and hopefully your pipes are intact. Kerosene heater would scare me too. Glad you survived. Maybe one of the guys would chop firewood in trade for soaps for you. :)

    Low temps were an issue when I lived in Massachusetts but not here. I remember the days of -10 with -40 chill factors, an oil furnace that couldn't keep up and having to keep a faucet running upstairs to prevent pipes freezing. My first apartment was great. A tankless boiler with radiators. Unlimited hot water. The landlord lived upstairs and he was in the furnace/boiler business. Only drawback was we had to put pans of water on the radiators for moisture.

    Here, we turn the heat off at night. The lowest I've seen it so far is 26 outside and 61 inside but you should hear my wife and daughter complain about the cold in the morning. I have an opposite problem for heat. The two small bedrooms (11x12) each have a forced air vent in the ceiling. If the heat is on and the bedroom doors are closed you literally roast. Closing the vents doesn't help much. I really need a couple of solid vent covers to block the vents completely. I got some of those magnetic ones but they're useless.
     
  7. MullersLaneFarm

    MullersLaneFarm New Member

    Sue, BRRRRR, especially today when it's not only cold, but snowing and blowing.

    Keep the cabinet doors open under the sink so some heat can get to the pipes and keep the faucets open at a drip.

    We heat primarily with wood (cook stove) that barely keeps the chill off (half of this old farmhouse - the original building - doesn't have insulation other than newspaper & tar paper under the clapboards). Our old wood burning parlor stove put off far more heat than the wood cook stove, but I couldn't cook on it!! We keep plenty of quilts and wool blankets in the living room and bedrooms.

    Stay warm & safe Sue!

    eta: Most heat escapes through the top of your head. Wear a hat Sue to stay warmer!
     
  8. Edcculus

    Edcculus Resident Bay Rummy

    Wow, I cant imagine it being that cold in my house! The heat went out in my section of the dorm freshman year and it got down to 50. 30 is brutal.

    I wish I could send you some of the warm weather we've been having lately. Best wishes and stay warm!
     
  9. Mama Bear

    Mama Bear New Member

    The furnace folks called and said instead of fixing on Wednesday they have to push it back to Monday, because the repair man got sick...... AARRRggghhhh!! Cyndi, I just don't know how you do this! :eek:
     
  10. MullersLaneFarm

    MullersLaneFarm New Member

    A good wood stove isn't the same as a fireplace. If we just had a fireplace, it would have an insert installed to circulate the warm air into the room instead of up the chimney.

    We have a ceiling fan by the stove that circulates the warm air on the lower floor.

    A funny: My husband loves to sleep with the window open a bit, even in the winter. I got so cold at night that I spun up some wool yarn and crocheted myself a nice thick cap to wear to bed. (Paul laughs & calls it my "sleeping helmet"). He didn't think it was too cold in there.

    One day I brought in the outdoor thermometer and placed it in our bedroom. When we got ready for bed, I pointed out that it read 36*F in the bedroom!!! He doesn't give me grief about my "sleeping helmet" anymore!!
     
  11. qhsdoitall

    qhsdoitall Wilbur

    Is he nuts?
     
  12. PalmettoB

    PalmettoB The Old Guard

    0.o 36 degrees INSIDE?

    :signs131 :whacky011
     
  13. Mama Bear

    Mama Bear New Member

    OMG..... he does this on Purpose!? :eek: Oh Cyndi...
     
  14. MullersLaneFarm

    MullersLaneFarm New Member

    Yes, inside the house and

    No, he isn't nuts, just different! He sleeps better in the cold.

    It wasn't a problem for me since we have plenty of wool blankets and comforters - my head was cold though, hence my wool sleeping helmet!

    He's a real dear, a real keeper actually. He supports my having a fiber habit with spinning wheels, looms, drum carders, et al and puts up with all the fiber I have in the house .... as long as I keep knitting him wool socks!!!
     
  15. PalmettoB

    PalmettoB The Old Guard

    There is something to be said for keeping it colder. I like to snuggle under a comforter or an extra blanket in the winter time. I think I sleep better in the winter than in summer.

    But 36 degrees?? Here in SC it never gets much below that even outside!
     
  16. Mama Bear

    Mama Bear New Member

    Oh, I agree with you Blair! There is something about dragging out the down comforters and thick fuzzy bathrobes and throws that just makes me all happy, and I sleep better also. Fireplaces and hot cocoa or glug in a big mug with a book and a throw is my idea of heaven..

    Tonight tho I realized that the only reason I loved this so much was because I had heat.. if it wasn't for the furnace, I doubt that I would love winter so much. I think there is a luxury in the extremes.. a blizzard raging outdoors and a novel and fireplace, hot drinks and the dog laying on your feet indoors..

    I am grateful for my fireplaces, but I never realized before how much I love my furnace too.... :D
     
  17. MullersLaneFarm

    MullersLaneFarm New Member

    Love the furnance!! (ours is set to 55*F during the winter). Sue, remember that round parlor stove (oak style) that was in the great rooom?

    [​IMG]

    It has been replaced with a wood cook stove

    [​IMG]
     
  18. fuerein

    fuerein New Member

    Cyndi, where did you get that old wood-burning cook stove, I'm assuming it almost has to be an antique?

    I loved the fireplace my grandparent's old place had (haven't seen it since I was about 6 though). A big round fireplace in the center of the open space between the living room, dining room, and kitchen with glass 360. Supposedly worked quite nicely for warming the room up when they needed it.
     
  19. Mama Bear

    Mama Bear New Member

    That is very cool! I liked the old one too, but this is simply amazing! Where did you get it and is it old or a reproduction?

    Awesome lady, just awesome! :cool:
     
  20. MullersLaneFarm

    MullersLaneFarm New Member

    The round black stove is a reproduction of an Oak style stove. Boy, did she put out the heat!

    The green/cream range is an original Montgomery Ward range dated between 1927 - 1931. It is a 6 burner with firebox and ash removal on left, oven in center and water reservoir on the right.

    [​IMG]

    Chimney comes up the back and through the 'cabinets' on top. They're the warming ovens.

    [​IMG]

    She cooks real good too!

    [​IMG]

    You can find wood ranges all over in the midwest (or you can buy them new).
     

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