We have been having trouble with the furnace lately. It would do all the normal furnac-y things like rev itself up, go whoosh, the gas would ignite and burn for a minute, and then it would shut down. It didn't do this all the time, just some of the time and usually at night. So, we were annoyed, but not popsicles. After a few weeks of saying to each other "gee, I wonder what's wrong with the furnace" we finally called the furnace guy to come take a look. Of course, we had to pay him $72 just to show up. Now, I wish I had a job where I got $72 just for showing up. Think of how motivating that would be! Every morning, someone would meet me at the door of my office and say "thanks for showing up, Beth. Here's $72 for your trouble." Although, as I am salaried and have been occasionally known to spend an entire day at work doing nothing at all that could realistically be considered part of my job, I guess I do sometimes get even more than $72 just for showing up. However, I digress.
The furnace man came and collected his money and looked at our furnace and quickly diagnosed what was wrong with it. Filth. Yup, our furnace is just too dirty to operate. I have no idea how this could have happened, but I am positive that it has nothing to do with the fact that we hadn't changed the furnace filter since last May. You see, I am a very clever girl and I cleverly mark the date on the furnace filter whenever I replace it so that I will know when it is time for a new one, so I can tell you without a doubt that I last replaced the filter on May 23. My excuse for not replacing it since then is that it really is a man's job and Chris should have done it. Also, I forgot.
While I am being positive of things, I am also positive that our filthy furnace has nothing to do with the asthma I have been having over the last few weeks. I am positive of this largely due to my personal motto, which is "dirt you cannot see does not exist." I tried sharing my personal motto with the furnace man, but his personal motto appears to be "you need to pay me several hundred dollars to clean your furnace." I think my motto is better than his, but since he got $72 to come to my house and do nothing other than ask for more money, I may have to admit that he is cleverer than me.
Comments (28)
Ah those sneaky furnace men, so inscrutible!!!! I have the same philosophy as you, and then it comes and bites lol!
Posted by Nina | March 17, 2005 7:53 AM
Ooh...OUCH! Thank you, though, I just put furnace filter on my shopping list.
On a side note...I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy your blog. You have such a fun sense of humor! Thanks for making me smile.
Posted by Nicole | March 17, 2005 8:02 AM
those clever furnace men...
What about the dirt you can see?
Posted by Autumn | March 17, 2005 8:17 AM
You have no idea how many times I do stuff like that. Stuff I do every day, no problem, once every couple months, and oops, my mind swallows the info whole.
Posted by Oliquig | March 17, 2005 8:31 AM
I like your motto a lot. I'm going to make sure to share that with my husband when he complains of asthma issues. "Honey, that's silly. Dirt you cannot see does not exist. Beth said so."
Posted by donna | March 17, 2005 8:36 AM
We are lucky in that our company mechanic can fix anything...and he's already on the payroll, so when our furnace broke last month he was able to fix it for us. We *did* have to freeze for two days waiting for an ordered part though. That part really sucked.
Posted by Kristie | March 17, 2005 8:39 AM
Aaaargh! You should have said something, Beth. I could have saved you 1) the $72 and 2) the embarassment of the furnace guy telling you to change your filter.
He didn't say you had to clean the whole furnace did he? If the filter is clogged, there isn't enough air and the furnace won't run (so you don't crack the damn thing and kill yourself with carbon monoxide). Just change the damn filter and you'll be fine.
Posted by Jon in Michigan | March 17, 2005 8:58 AM
IT'S A SMALL PRICE TO PAY TO NOT KILL YOURSELF WITH CARBON MONOXIDE!
(There. I had to get that 'Mom' moment out of me.)
Now go put it on your calendar when to change the filter next time. See, we have electric heat in our house, so we don't have to worry about carbon monoxiding ourselves...just starting the house on fire if a pillow falls on a hot register all day. yeah, no worries.
Posted by angela marie | March 17, 2005 9:10 AM
That was just what I needed to get my day going (wipes tears off of cheeks). A furnace man's personal motto... good stuff, good stuff.
Posted by SueBec | March 17, 2005 9:41 AM
Had my furnace (nasty oil burner) cleaned last fall after 4 years! Ack. Granted I'd only just passed the one-year mark and didn't think it had to be cleaned upon my moving in (silly silly). Next up - ducts! Ewwww...I'm dreading knowing what they find in there because I think the dirt-that-I-cannot-see IS in fact hurting me. *sigh* *cough* *sneeze*
Posted by carrster | March 17, 2005 9:43 AM
Oh my gosh! I haven't changed our filter in ages either! Thanks for reminding me!
The furnace man is a deft one, isn't he? I think you outta figure out a way to not only get $72 for walking through the door, you need to figure out how to get more for doing nothing else for the rest of the day!
Posted by Jade | March 17, 2005 10:42 AM
I just went thru this nightmare...but it was in January.
The filthy filter in question wasn't the big honeycomb looking one IN the furnace, but the filter between the fuel tank and where the oil goes into the furnace. It was disgusting.
Thank God for handy friends.
Posted by Ames | March 17, 2005 11:17 AM
I would blame that one on the cleaning ladies. After all, their job is to clean, right? And the furnace IS dirty. So, the only logical conclusion is that they dropped the ball on this one.
Posted by RockStar Mommy | March 17, 2005 11:45 AM
Hey, if you had just waited a while, I could have come out and cleaned if for you. For $71.
Posted by bmh | March 17, 2005 12:32 PM
Hmm...maybe I should take a look at my furnance. Thanks for the public service announcement!
Posted by kat | March 17, 2005 1:50 PM
Everybody needs a motto!
P.S. Few people are cleverer than you. Really.
Posted by Marcia | March 17, 2005 2:07 PM
Aren't furnace things the GUY'S job? What the hell? CHRIS dropped the ball on that one, honey, not you!
(Only don't tell him I said so, lest he sent hate vibes my way when he looses brownie-points.)
Posted by Queen of Ass | March 17, 2005 2:24 PM
*sigh* We had to pay $135 for that same thing. Although, he also found out that some little tiny thingummy which lights the pilot light was coated with laundry lint. There's no way for us to get into there and clean that thing, durnit.
Posted by etherian | March 17, 2005 2:40 PM
See, you should just do what I'm doing...MOVE! Now I don't care how filthy my place gets, because 1 month from now it won't be my problem anymore. And thank goodness, because I don't think I could ever get that stove clean again.
Then again, maybe you don't exactly need any more stress now huh?
Posted by Kerry | March 17, 2005 5:29 PM
That's a great reminder - I better get CosmoBoy to change the furnace filter. He just loves when I come up with jobs for him :roll:
Posted by Marie | March 17, 2005 7:02 PM
The same thing happened to me only with my dryer. It was full of lint and the ignitor went out. You have to clean out the front of your dryer. Who Knew?
Posted by Kate | March 17, 2005 11:29 PM
sorry no idea what a furnace even looks like - living in KL they only thing i know about is air conditioners.
but its the same with the air con man, he'll wack you for money just for answering his bloody phone!
Posted by Bella | March 18, 2005 12:30 AM
Hee! Love the motto.
Posted by sara | March 18, 2005 1:25 AM
Clever, he is. $72 just for showing up to walk through your door? Hmm. *Scribbles on to do list...figure out the furnance guy's cleverness and apply it to self or to the husband*
Glad it's all clean now so you can breathe again!
Posted by Tricia | March 18, 2005 7:35 AM
shit shit shit ... you just reminded me - I've NEVER changed the filter in my furnace - I've been in this place for two years! BUT - I'm selling it soon - so maybe I can just leave it for the new people! Yeah -- that'll work!
Posted by bob | March 18, 2005 7:41 AM
I definitely went into the wrong line of work.
Posted by SpaceCase | March 18, 2005 10:43 AM
we actually just called a guy to come in and clean ours. We moved in 12/03 and figure the folks that lived here before us didn't do it. Why do we think that? In the six years they lived here they never emptied the septic tank. Yeah...we need to check up on a lot of stuff so we aren't in deep sh*t. LOL
Posted by bari | March 18, 2005 6:26 PM
I just had the furnace guy here too, well, not YOUR furnace guy, my furnace guy. My furnace guy wants $600.00 to clean my dirty ducts. Oh, that sounds rude. Well, $600.00 is even ruder.
Posted by jen | March 18, 2005 6:27 PM