Check your furnace!

Starting Monday, we had a painter come in to do the interior of our house so I packed up the baby and headed to grandma's for a few days to keep Punky out of the fumes.

That afternoon when the temps outside dropped like a rock, so did the temp in grandma's house. It was after the magical hour of 5 pm we discovered the heater was out. We could get someone to come out to fix it, but no one had the part needed and all the supply companys were closed. The low for the night was -19 F. (-28 C) It was a very long night.

When the repairman arrived Tuesday, it turned out the ignitor on the gas heater had suffered an electrical arc shorting it out. The source? Cat hair across the prongs. Although my parents use the expensive, super-duper air filters from 3M in the return air flow, the burn box has air vents cut directly into the cover.

Mr. fix-it said he'd have a very slow business if it weren't for pet hair and people stacking things too close to the furance, choking the air flow to it. Dad said he was shocked at the amount of Molly hair that had to be sucked out with the vaccum. She's only been with them about 18 months.

So check your furnace for cat fur. And Dad is going to try cutting a cheap filter down to fit into the cold air return vent behind the chair Molly likes to hide under just to catch her hair.


Stay warm

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