Eventually, this turns into a question about ovens.
So as part of my new hippie commie Portland identity, I switched to biofuel for my heat. They told me that after a few weeks, I should call someone to clean the filter on my furnace, as biofuel has an initial gunky stage as it runs through the works.
Fine. There's a sticker with the name and number of a service company on the front of the furnace, and I call it.
They come out, a father and son-in-law. The father says, "Oh, I was here to inspect the furnace before they sold the house--I remember this basement!"
The son-in-law says, "Huh. Your heat exchanger's cracked. I have to shut this thing off right now, because it could be leaking carbon monoxide into the air. Also, it can't be fixed. You need a new furnace."
And then begins the hard sell. They are great at replacing furnaces! They can help! They can do everything, and they'll throw in a couple tickets to the science museum as a bonus! I'm staring at them, thinking, Right. Six months ago, you gave this sucker a clean bill of health, and now you want me to trust you to install something that could potentially explode?
I was pretty upset. I had to replace the furnace in my last house, and I know they aren't cheap. But then I remembered: The sellers included a home warranty. So I call that company. Five minutes of hold music, and I'm talking with a live person. "Oh, well, just so long as we get an approved technician to say it's broken, we'll pay for the entire replacement."
Dag, yo. Day just got a little better. Then I ask, "You know, I was actually planning on switching to gas in the spring. Would you guys pay for a gas furnace instead?"
"Well, you'd have to pay for the gas line and any conversion stuff," the rep says. "But we'd pay whatever it would have cost to replace your current furnace with a new one, so yeah, we'd essentially pay for the furnace and installation."
Sweet. So I call the gas company. Turns out they'll pay for running the line out to the house, as an incentive to get me to switch to gas.
"You know, I really hate my electric stove..." I say to the contractor, who strikes me as a much more competent guy than Tweedledum and 'dee whose sticker was on the old furnace.
"We'll run a line up for free, no problem," says the guy. If he hadn't already mentioned his wife, I'd have proposed marriage on the spot.
I'm not getting out of this unscathed; I will have to pay a fair bit for the upgrade to an ultra-efficient furnace. And I won't have heat until the end of November. (Special to Fightscrime: That's right, no heat! Enjoy your stay at the Ice Hotel!) But the contractor's supposed to bring by a bunch of space heaters tomorrow to tide me over, and in the meantime, I'm shopping for stoves. Which leads to my question: I'm really attracted to the concept of a dual-heat stove (gas range, electric oven), but put off by the cost. Does anyone have any experience with them, and if so, what's their take? Any good consumer-reportish websites they'd recommend I check out for research? Currently, my heart belongs to this little number, but dang, that's a lot of moolah.
I will say that it's nice to be in a more comfortable position this time around. Last time my furnace died, I'd just bought my house and was barely breaking $30K a year, and I wound up having to borrow money from my parents (something that is simply Not Done in my family) to pay for the new one. I remember sobbing, wondering how the hell I was going to cough up 4 grand, and wondering if I could just get through a whole winter without heat. This time, I've got savings, and a good credit history, and while I'm not thrilled about the unexpected expense, I can handle it. There are some benefits to getting older, I suppose.
Fine. There's a sticker with the name and number of a service company on the front of the furnace, and I call it.
They come out, a father and son-in-law. The father says, "Oh, I was here to inspect the furnace before they sold the house--I remember this basement!"
The son-in-law says, "Huh. Your heat exchanger's cracked. I have to shut this thing off right now, because it could be leaking carbon monoxide into the air. Also, it can't be fixed. You need a new furnace."
And then begins the hard sell. They are great at replacing furnaces! They can help! They can do everything, and they'll throw in a couple tickets to the science museum as a bonus! I'm staring at them, thinking, Right. Six months ago, you gave this sucker a clean bill of health, and now you want me to trust you to install something that could potentially explode?
I was pretty upset. I had to replace the furnace in my last house, and I know they aren't cheap. But then I remembered: The sellers included a home warranty. So I call that company. Five minutes of hold music, and I'm talking with a live person. "Oh, well, just so long as we get an approved technician to say it's broken, we'll pay for the entire replacement."
Dag, yo. Day just got a little better. Then I ask, "You know, I was actually planning on switching to gas in the spring. Would you guys pay for a gas furnace instead?"
"Well, you'd have to pay for the gas line and any conversion stuff," the rep says. "But we'd pay whatever it would have cost to replace your current furnace with a new one, so yeah, we'd essentially pay for the furnace and installation."
Sweet. So I call the gas company. Turns out they'll pay for running the line out to the house, as an incentive to get me to switch to gas.
"You know, I really hate my electric stove..." I say to the contractor, who strikes me as a much more competent guy than Tweedledum and 'dee whose sticker was on the old furnace.
"We'll run a line up for free, no problem," says the guy. If he hadn't already mentioned his wife, I'd have proposed marriage on the spot.
I'm not getting out of this unscathed; I will have to pay a fair bit for the upgrade to an ultra-efficient furnace. And I won't have heat until the end of November. (Special to Fightscrime: That's right, no heat! Enjoy your stay at the Ice Hotel!) But the contractor's supposed to bring by a bunch of space heaters tomorrow to tide me over, and in the meantime, I'm shopping for stoves. Which leads to my question: I'm really attracted to the concept of a dual-heat stove (gas range, electric oven), but put off by the cost. Does anyone have any experience with them, and if so, what's their take? Any good consumer-reportish websites they'd recommend I check out for research? Currently, my heart belongs to this little number, but dang, that's a lot of moolah.
I will say that it's nice to be in a more comfortable position this time around. Last time my furnace died, I'd just bought my house and was barely breaking $30K a year, and I wound up having to borrow money from my parents (something that is simply Not Done in my family) to pay for the new one. I remember sobbing, wondering how the hell I was going to cough up 4 grand, and wondering if I could just get through a whole winter without heat. This time, I've got savings, and a good credit history, and while I'm not thrilled about the unexpected expense, I can handle it. There are some benefits to getting older, I suppose.