My nemesis has a name, and that name is furnace.

After the trials and tribulations this summer of installing central air in my home, I had thought that my dealings with my furnace were over.

I thought wrong.

It started making an odd noise a few days ago… a deep rumbling sound that troubled me. It appeared that the exhaust blower was off balance and I was going to tear it open last night after I got home from work to see what the problem was. Unfortunately, it seized up during the day yesterday while I was at work.

No exhaust blower… no heat.

Unfortunately, it was 7 pm when I discovered this, way past the time when the furnace place was closed. Another unfortunate thing was the temperature outside was dropping. A low of 13° f (-10.5° c) was forecast for last night, and I knew things were gonna get cold if I didn’t do something.

We do have a natural gas fireplace with a blower, so I turned it on and placed fans around it to help circulate the air. This only heats the top floor of my home though. My eldest son has a king sized water bed so I wasn’t too concerned with him for the night, but my youngest son had nothing in his room, so I put an electric oil radiator in his room.

I froze in my room.

Currently, it’s friggin’ 11° f outside (-11.7° c) and a tropical 59° f (15° c) inside.

I’ll be calling the furnace place when they open in about 45 minutes. Hopefully they have the part I need in stock and ready to go (read: If they have to order it with a 2 – 3 week waiting period, there will be bloodshed).