Heater Troubles

We were out of town all weekend. It was cold when we returned home. I thought this was no problem. I just turned the heat on in the house. Kit Kat smelled the fresh smell of heater gas. The house started heating up. Then it stopped. No air was coming out of the vents. What the heck?

I dialed up the temperature on the thermostat. The vents started blowing air. I thought we were good. Nope. It kept blowing cold air. Then I turned off the heat. The vents kept blowing cold air. I knew we were in trouble. Momoko slept downstairs because it was really cold up in our bedrooms. Little Kat cried that he wanted to use one of our portable space heaters.

Due to the cold and a long night's sleep, I got up early Monday morning. I went to work where it was warm. The kids had the day off. Momoko had to go into work to do some grading, but she did not need to wake up early. I called the heating company from work. They said they could work on our heat immediately. I ran out of the office and drove home.

The heating guy said there was a problem with the flow of water out of our heating system. That caused the safety switches to kick on and kill the heating each time we tried to turn it on. the guy thoroughly cleaned our system, and recommended we have a professional repeat the cleaning once a year. Whew.

After the heating guy left, I punched up the heat a bit until Little Kat and myself were getting cooked. Now the heat is working like a champ and the family is happy. The repair guy did not cost too much. And we are poised to keep our heating system maintained from now on.

Cold Times

Momoko complained this afternoon that she was cold. This happens every day. However I also felt extra chilly. Checking the thermostat, it read 60 degrees. Ouch. We have the heat set much higher than that.

Some searching exposed the air conditioning was on. That must have confused the furnace. But turning off the air conditioning did not fix the problem. I was thinking about calling the HVAC guys tomorrow. But it was getting just too cold.

I tried out a new HVAC company. They came real quick and figured out the problem. Bad news. It was going to run us $689. But hey, we need to stay warm. When they were done, they presented me with a bill for $815. WTF? They tried to add on a service charge and some tax. I refused the service charge. They did not mention this when they gave me the total estimate. However they would not budge on the tax. I am happy they fixed my heat. But I probably won't be using these bait and switch guys again.