Be Careful What You Wish For!

Today's high temperature was: 19 degrees

Sunny most of the day

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I ended my post last night saying that perhaps today would be a more exciting day to write about.  Well--read the title of this post once again.

EGADS!!!!!

I woke up at 4:00 this morning.  Gosh--it felt awfully cold.  I turn the thermostat down at night, but it felt a lot colder than 68 degrees.  

I went to the bathroom--it felt like I was in an outhouse!  The seat was so cold!  I wandered out into the living room to check the thermostat and it was 53 degrees.  I thumped on the wall to see if the thermostat would come on.  Then I turned it to off and back to on.  I could hear the furnace start up--but it clicked twice and shut down.  Something was broken and I thought it was probably the starter.

I turned on the oven--which isn't a real good thing to do, but.....stood and shivered and started shaking.  I don't know if it was from the cold or fear.  I got dressed real quick and fed the cats, got my hot cocoa and called my local furnace repair guys--well actually AAA Service fixes just about everything.  I had them fix my dryer last spring.  I put in a message on their 24 hour emergency hot line.

The minute I saw Dar open her side blinds, I called her and asked if I could borrow her electric heater.  She went into panic mode.

"OHMYGOD--are you okay?"

"Yes...I'm fine.  I have called the repair service and they should call back with an appointment time by eight."

"OH JUDY--THE ICE IS SO BAD OUT ON THE STREET.  I JUST DON'T.....WELL WAIT--I WILL GET DRESSED AND DRIVE OVER WITH THE HEATER."

"No...I will walk up and get it.  I'll be there in a couple of minutes."

"Oh--I don't want you to fall and break something."

"I am not going to fall.  Unlock your front door...I'll be right over."  and I hung up the phone.

It was 4 degrees outside, so I DID put on my ski hat, coat and gloves and walked  slide up to her place.

She handed me her heater, said a few things that I didn't even hear, I told her thanks and slide back home.

Let me tell you--that little heater was about as much use as "tits on a boar hog".  I cranked it up as high as it would go with  high fan, turned on the oscillator and an hour later it was up to 57 degrees.  So, I shut it down, turned the oven back on to 350 and opened the door.

I got a call at 8:00 that a repair guy would be here before 10:00...and he was.  Nice man--Lance was his name.

He thought the problem was the starter--I had it replaced five years ago.  Sure enough the starter was burned right in half.  The blower wasn't working right either, so he checked that out--I needed a new one--I could see where a couple of wires had burned off.  Then he wanted to check out the heat exchanger--the "mother board" of the furnace.  He had a digital read-out with a long scope with a camera on the end.

He went into the depths of that furnace like he was doing a colonoscopy!!!  He said, "Oh oh."  (Don't you hate to hear those words?)

There, very visible even to me was a crack--on the inside of the heat exchanger, on the left..another one showed up when he moved the camera to the other side and a tiny hole showed itself on the back.

"What could have caused this?"  I asked

:Overheating and age.  They don't exactly put top of the line furnaces in this kinds of homes."

"Yeah--I know.  "

"Plus, they are made to last about twelve--thirteen years.  How old is yours?"

"Twenty.  What if I just replace the starter and the blower and let the heat exchanger go?"

"The cracks in the heat exchanger are just about ready to break through, plus that little hole already is broken through.  You can get carbon monoxide poisoning."

"Yeah.   I know."

In the last eleven years, I have put three new draft motors on the furnace.  Two new starters, an new gas injector and two new thermostats.  Close to two thousand dollars worth of repairs.

"So what is the cost for repairs?"

"The furnace will have to be taken apart--eighty dollars an hour for labor (just like at the garage repair place), then a new blower, heat exchanger, and starter for sure, unless we find anything else wrong.  I don't think we will..but when you get into the furnace itself....you just never know.  

"How much would a whole new furnace cost?"

"We can get one for you, just like this one, for around three thousand dollars."

(I could feel the tears start to sting.)

"I have put in a lot of the energy-fuel efficient ones in this park.  I can get you names of your neighbors if you want to call them and ask how they would rate that furnace.  It is much smaller and more efficient.  You will get a two hundred-fifty dollar rebate from the gas company and a hundred dollar rebate from the electric company and your gas bill will probably be half of what it is now."

"How much is that one?"

"Close to four thousand dollars."

"I need to sit down and think for a minute."

"Okay--I'll go out to my truck and get a new starter and a blower.  I'll be right back."

.So I grabbed a Kleenex and sat down in my recliner.  I prayed, "God please help me" and I cried and I sat.  Lance came back in about fifteen minutes later.  He handed me several phone numbers of people in the park.  I called a guy who lives up the street.  I don't know him, he doesn't know me.

We talked.  He was very upbeat about the AAA Service and the furnace.  "The best thing we ever did was replace that one that came with this place.  It has saved us a lot of money on our gas bill--especially this winter."

"Did you get the energy efficient one--the smaller one."

"Yep.  Got rebates from Consumers and DTE too, plus a lower gas bill."

"Okay.  Thanks.  Lance?  Work up a sheet for the energy efficient one and see what the total cost will be."

We sat over on the davenport, with a table between us.  He wrote everything out.  $4,234.00  Then he started taking stuff off--no service charge for today, no charge for the new starter,   A brand new, digital programmable thermostat thrown in, a 5 year maintenance agreement where they come and inspect the A/C in the spring and the furnace in the fall.

The new installation will include new venting to outside, a new roof vent and collar, some sort of thing that also makes the A/C more efficient, take away all pieces of furnace, clean up closet where furnace is placed--stuff like that.

The discounts came to -$386.00, plus the rebate from the gas and electric company.  $736.00 worth of discounts.  They can put it in tomorrow morning.  

I handed Lance my credit card--my hands were shaking so hard.  He reached over and took my hand.

"My Mom is around your age.  She is living on Social Security.  I know what a hard decision this is for you.  They say there is a reason for everything.  I have been thinking, as bad as that heat exchanger looks....maybe...just maybe, God burned that starter out so the furnace would shut down, so you would have to call us and I found the cracks and the little hole.  Maybe God did that to save you from perhaps dying of carbon monoxide poisoning.  We have to keep the faith and trust that God will get us through any hard thing that comes to us."

He filled out all the rebate papers, explained all the warranties to me--the heat exchanger has a lifetime guarantee, 10 years on parts, 5 years on labor--no matter what.

I signed my name, we talked a bit, then he got up to leave and when I walked him to the door, he turned and hugged me. 
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Pearl called--Merle wondered what was happening as he had seen the truck.  When I told her, Merle got on the phone and told me that two years ago they replaced their furnace for the same issues I have and that they have been very pleased with the performance and the company.  

I said, "Well, I don't know if yours is working very well.  Your gas bill was high last month."

"Yup.  That's because Pearl wants that gas log running all the time.  It is very costly as most of the warm air goes up the chimney."

"I know...she loves to have it lit."

"Yeah...but not much more.  She is allergic to the fume it puts out and we have some sort of film all over the inside windows."

"Did you get someone to come out and look at it?"

"Yup.  The company we bought it from.  The company you told us not to use?  They say there is nothing wrong with it."
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So--at 9:00 tomorrow morning, I will be having a new furnace installed and when my credit card comes due on March 25th, I will have to figure out how I'm going to pay.  I Have always paid more then the minimum and paid early.  Perhaps, I am going to have to just pay the minimum and not worry about the interest I am paying also.  I still am paying for Fred's funeral and his dentures and transmission on his car--so now, here is another bill along with my car repair and the plumber's charge for the frozen pipe.

Will someone just shoot me and put me out of my misery?!!
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Pammie was home tonight so I called her--she is the only one in the family who understands how tough it is to live with very little money.  I almost wish she were closer to retirement--she will make more money on S.S. then she has for the last five years!

"Well Momma, you will have a decent furnace that you don't have to worry about anymore.  That will bring you peace of mind and you can't put a price on that.  Did you tell Karen or Aunt Susan?"

"Nope.  They are wonderful people, but they don't understand.  I told Karen when I had to get my new roof and her response, after I told her it would cost three thousand dollars was, "Oh...that's a great price.!"  and she was happy for me."

"They don't understand, Momma.  They think the poverty level is around thirty thousand dollars a year.  When they have to have a new roof or furnace, they put it on their credit card and pay it of the end of the month.  To them...sure it's an unexpected expense, but not that is real troubling.  They have no idea that we are living below the poverty level--they can't comprehend it."

"Yeah.  They go down to Detroit to help the poverty people who are living on eight, nine thousand a year from Welfare.  they don't realize that their own Mother is living on that same amount and no help from Welfare."

"Yeah...you're right."

"I know.  To them three thousand dollars for repairs would be a nuisance.  They don't realize that for us, it's a catastrophe! That's why I called you...at least you get it"

"You call me anytime, Momma.  I will always understand.
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Oh, by the way, had to cancel tomorrow's appointment with the cardiologist--for the 3rd time.  Maybe someone is telling me I don't really need to go?  My next appointment is March 14th, so prepare yourself for another big snow storm--that's why I had to cancel the first two.