Winter weather arrived far earlier than expected this past year.
It seemed as if one day the outside temperature was in the upper fifties and the next day it dropped below freezing.
I had not yet put away the patio furniture or winterized the pool pump when there was already several inches of snow on the ground. I was suddenly in a rush to put the summer items away and find all of the winter necessities. I needed to locate the snow shovels, ice scrapers, boots, wool coats, hats and gloves. The lawn mower needed to be replaced with the snow blower. I made an appointment to get the snow tires put on the car. Unfortunately, I totally forgot about scheduling professional maintenance for the furnace. I raised the thermostat, noticed that the heating system made a strange noise and the air smelled odd, and then I forgot all about it. I failed to pay attention when the furnace was running longer and more often than normal. When it struggled to keep up with demand, I simply raised the thermostat setting by several degrees. It wasn’t until the heating system quit entirely that I called for service from a local contractor. By that time, we were experiencing a winter blizzard with below zero temperatures and feet of snow accumulation. A lot of people were having complaints with their heaters, and it was difficult to get an appointment. I ended up paying a higher rate for emergency repairs outside of regular business hours. The technician inspected the inner workings of the furnace and discovered a significant buildup of dust and debris. He said that this buildup was the cause of the problem. It had caused the furnace to overheat and shut down. I was lucky that the heat exchanger hadn’t cracked. I would have needed to replace the whole furnace. A thorough cleaning was enough to get the system running properly again.