flemmings | (no subject)

Not quite the way I expected to spend my 72nd birthday- dead furnace just as a polar vortex is scheduled to move in. But I lucked out with the company that I googled, closed my eyes and pointed to (well, it was rated at 5 stars). 'We have a window between 12 and 4 for the inspection': inspector shows up at 11:45. The part that's died is, of course, no longer kept in stock, will take six weeks to get a hold of, and, he says, will cost nearly as much as a new furnace. This is what lines of credit are for so I give him my card for $5000 and change as a 50% deposit (a bit more than the $3,000 plus the part will cost but shou ga nai). Workers will come either later today or first thing tomorrow, and appear at 2:30. Done four hours later, and the total cost is $5000 plus. High efficiency heats the house to nearly uncomforable levels. Am the winner on the deal all round except for minor details like the new furnace smell that didn't happen with the old furnace because that one got ordered in late spring or possibly early summer. More disconcerting is the absence of the whoosh noise that the old furnace used to make when turning on, which was how I knew it was working. This one is silent as the grave and gives no indication of function until the heat rises from the vents. I'll get used to it, eventually.

Brother and s-i-l came by to calm my tizzies, though not specifically for that purpose, and bro was here and answered the door when the workmen arrived, which is always useful because workmen in general have this preference for dealing with Other Men. And then I went out with my staff to give SND her wine and could actually walk with just the staff, and could climb SND's narrow front steps, so that was happy-making. So a not unsatisfactory birthday.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Happy birthday!

I also had my furnace out a few days ago, but luckily it was an easier fix. May your new one last well!

Happy belated birthday! I'm glad things worked out for you! I can only imagine how stressful that might have been specially given the weather.

"because workmen in general have this preference for dealing with Other Men" So true. I have a contractor I'm dealing with about our flooded bathroom and I get the feeling he's a bit uncomfortable talking to me instead of C.

I'm glad you can walk with just the staff! Woo!

Thank you for both wishes.

Furnaces should not die in winter, but of course that's obviously when they do. My brother's died on the coldest day of the year. The malignity of inanimate objects.

(My last one didn't die-- it had its yearly inspection in April and the technician said it's starting to leak carbon monoxide better get a new one. So I've been spoiled.)

Flooded bathrooms are much worse than furnaces IME. There are always space heaters. (Unless you're my younger bro whose furnace died and then had a blackout on the same day.)

I put the workmen thing partly down to our multinational country of immigrants-- here, at least, we get guys from trademark macho cultures-- but mostly to generational differences. People who could be my grandsons are much more rational. And yesterday's were oddly well-behaved for any kind of workman. They had to use the narrow side walkway to get the furnace parts in, but that's where next door keeps her bins. Anyone else eg the roofers last summer would simply move the bins to the front of her house. This guy came and asked was it OK. Amazing.

Happy birthday, and I’m glad the furnace could be sorted out swiftly.

There is something in the post, though I can’t promise when it’ll reach you.

Thank you. I'm still amazed by the un-traumaticness of it all. (Article in the Atlantic magazine defines the term 'adulting' as Millennials "engag(ing) in the normal day-to-day activities of adulthood with a smirking, surreal surprise." Wrong, so wrong, as this Boomer can attest. I'l n'y a pas de grandes personnes, and the normal drudge work is 'adulting' for everyone.)

Shall look forward to your parcel. Mail delivery is still in the twixtmas doldrums but come it will.

The older I get, the more I'm convinced that "il n'y a pas de grandes personnes" is the most accurate statement out there.

Like, maybe I know a couple of adults, but I don't know them well enough to say they're always like that.

I have to thank my lucky stars we have two bathrooms in the condo. The flood happened at the beginning of November and we have yet to receive a schedule of work from the contractors because of all of the emergency work going on with burst pipes etc.

I'm sure my upstairs neighbours are worse off, however, as their bathroom that flooded had just been renovated to have a wheelchair-accessible shower so they are having to make do without one.

This guy came and asked was it OK.
That IS amazing! What a nice experience!

Yikes to your upstairs neighbours. What caused the burst pipes? I gather this was more than one building?

The main reason I don't have a roommate/ tenant here is because thete's only one bathroom. A very wise woman said that afer a certain age you must have one bathroom per person.

Usually it's caused by someone leaving a window open when it's still below freezing. That's how our bedroom was flooded in March. The upstairs neighbour had a window open and their radiator pipe burst.

VERY wise about one bathroom per person.

It's.... Alberta. It's colder than any invidious comparison you care to make. Who opens windows in an Albertan winter?

Radiators? Like water heated radiators? In a modern condo? How retro.

I might be using the wrong word when I say 'radiator'. Baseboard heating? It's not forced air. I also want to know who the heck opens a window in an Albertan winter!