Oh, what a crappy, crappy, crappy week it has been. As the saying goes, things tend to come in threes and this week has most certainly reinforced it.
Sunday our small pancake air compressor wouldn’t turn on. I needed it to pump up the tire to our wheelbarrow that I use for bringing wood from the woodshed to the garage. Not the end of the world. I worked around it by using the hatch area of my car. If it weren’t for the temperatures being in the negatives, I would have just arm loaded it to the garage.
Today I woke up to a colder than usual house. Our furnace will (well, usually!) kick on in the early hours as the woodstove cools down. This morning, it wasn’t the case. I first got the fire going again, prayed there would be hot water for my shower (there was) and then got out the manual to see if I could troubleshoot the issue. We have a hot water boiler system, hence my initial concern for my shower. Priorities, you know! After finding nothing helpful in the 30-year-old manuals, I went to Google. It turns our furnace was discontinued in the early 90s. Great. Not. A call to a furnace guy we know would be my next task-after going to work.
Thankfully, I was able to switch some hours around at my job to get home to see about getting some heat in the house. While I was waiting, I decided to start clearing some of the approximately 4 inches of snow that had fallen while I was at work. The snowblower started up like a champ, but the auger wouldn’t engage. I turned it off to see if there was something stuck. Nope. Everything looked clear. I then restarted it, and it started smoking. Back into the garage, it went. Most likely a belt. Hubby will deal with it when he gets home. Meanwhile, if I need to park at the end of the driveway, I’ll do so. Given the length, shoveling is the last thing I want to do. Things can’t possibly get any worse, can they? Sigh. Yes, they were about to.
Our furnace guy shows up. He looked at our system and determined it was the vent blower. There was also some piping that would need to be changed out at the same time. If (and it was a big if) he could even get the parts, he roughly estimated a bandaid approach would be about $1,500. I view it as a bandaid, as this is only one small part of the furnace. I asked him to give us a quote for a new system. I also discussed that if our finances permit, that down the road we would like to do an addition. With that in mind, we would want a replacement system to be large enough to accommodate doing so. Fortunately, he said that wouldn’t impact the price all that much. Total cost for a new furnace is $6,300. Ouch. But wait, there is more.
About 20 minutes or so after the repair guy left, he called back to say that he called his supplier and the parts were more expensive than he anticipated. For the bandaid, it would be closer to $2,500. I can’t see putting $2,500 into a 30-year-old furnace, and especially one that has been discontinued. For right now, he did get it working but did say the fan was in terrible shape. How long it will last, that is impossible to know. He also said the only reason I had any hot water was that it was in the tank. No working furnace also means no hot water. So that leaves me with what to do, what to do?
To be continued…
No wheelbarrow, sucks. No snow blower, sucks more. No furnace, OMGosh, you’re in negative temps, beyond “sucks more.” I don’t see what choice you have but to replace it.:-(
I certainly hope the rest of your week goes better!
A good way to sum things up! This sucks big time. 🙁
That is a whole bunch of crap in a single day. I’d say go for the new system sooner than later. The risk of something with a faulty furnace it just too much
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You got that right! Unfortunately, we don’t really have a choice. At this point, a bandaid fix makes no sense.
You need hot water. I’m sorry you are having such a rough week. Sounds like you might have to pause on your debt payoff and save up some money quick to get a new furnace. It will only be a quick pause and then you will be backing to kicking its butt. Don’t stress to much. You don’t need to get sick too.
Unfortunately, we will not only need to pause our snowball but will be taking on more debt. 🙁 Even with this rough week, I’m trying my best to keep my chin up.
OMG! You were dumped on!! Based on the age of your furnace and the cost of the repair vs replace, I’d say go with the new system. And, of course it all had to happen when your hubby is away at work. I hope things start going better for you.
Yes, we were. I’m pretty sure Murphy watches for Hubs to leaves as these types of things never seem to happen when he is home. Grr.