Reality check
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So, the last two weeks the respiratory junk has slowly been overtaking me. The sum of it is, I have a bad cold on top of a dry hacking cough, and I'm pretty miserable.
As a result, my mate and I stayed inside yesterday, concentrating of making Christmas presents (quilts, decorative pillows, etc). She sews, I cut, and I do the machine embroidery. All day long I'd been smelling something hot but I just thought it was the steam iron, or the adhesive spray I use when doing embroidery.
It was the furnace. A fan motor terminal burned off the controller board about 10:30PM. No sweat, I'm an old A/C guy and an electronic tech. I fixed that but after I put it together the whole board failed. I'm guessing the heat from the terminal caused a relay to short out. But this time it took out not only the board but the transformer and thermostat. So now all I have is a burner box and a fan motor. I gave up at 3:30AM and dug out the two space heaters we own.
So now I'm waiting for an estimator to price a replacement. In Illinois it's hard to even buy a furnace without a contractor's license, so it's not worth trying to replace it on my own.
Some say there's a silver lining to every cloud. I guess I can find two right now: First, maybe I'll actually be able to benefit from the 30% tax credit available until the end of the year, and second, and probably more importantly, something like this sure has a tendency to put my gender issues in the background. Not much comfort however.
Did I mention it was in the negative digits today (fahrenheit, for those of you using other systems--you know who you are)? I am managing to keep the house above 55 though, could be worse I guess.
Shivering in Chicago,
Carla Ann
PS Got the estimate, figured out how to pay the piper, the installation crew arrives tomorrow morning. Hope the boss understands me not being there.