Huge Bullet Dodged

We seriously dodged a bullet today.  $200 sure beats the hell out of potentially $1500 or so.

When we woke up this morning it was really cold in the house.  The furnace had quit on us over night.  Unfortunately for us the extent of my knowledge of furnaces starts and ends with, "The furnace is in the cellar."  So I called one 24 hours on call plummer and they called me back at a little after 6:00am to tell me that they could maybe get to us by 1:00 or 2:00.  Not good, but better than nothing.  Jen got to work and started calling around for other options.  One of them said they could be at our house much earlier.  Winner!

When he got here I told him that the furnace itself was still warm to the touch, but nothing was reaching the vents upstairs.  He cracked open the blower and found that the motor was dead.  He took it out and started looking for a new one.  The prices ranged from around $500 to around $1200 or so.

Then he noticed something.  "That doesn't look right," he said.  He fiddled inside the motor for a second, then turned on the power and BAM!  The blower was blowing again!  It was just a nut inside that had shaken itself loose somehow and once it was back in place we had heat again.  He then gave me a quick lesson on how to change the filters (a retarded monkey could do it.  I know, because I have the IQ of a retarded monkey and I did it), charged us a minimum repair fee on top of the flat trouble shooting fee, and left like a Spiderman slinging webs and flying off into the night.  Except there were no webs, he had a van, and it was morning.  I went to Home Depot, got new filters, jammed them into place, and all is right with the world.

Bullet dodged.


Whew!