Column: Never take a smoothly humming furnace for granted

My husband, Paul, and I did not lose power during the great October wind storm, but on the following Saturday we woke to a cold house. Paul went down cellar to investigate, but couldn’t get the furnace going. So he called our fuel company.

There was a time when the furnace was constantly going out, so much so that the fuel company was going to give us a new one, because they weren’t able to fix it. The breakdowns always seemed to start after we’d had the furnace tuned up for the winter. Finally, somebody from the fuel company noticed that we had an unusual model number. It was XB, or some such, while other similar furnaces with XA. The technicians had been tuning it up to XA standards,

After that, we were wary of having them come in every fall, even though we knew to make sure the technicians were aware of which model they were dealing with.

On this recent Saturday morning, the technician arrived bright and early. After taking a look at the furnace, he asked if we had had any power surges during the storm. Yes, Paul said. The tech said many people had to have their timers replaced over the course of the week for just that reason. He fixed our timer. It did not do the trick.

Next, he noted we had a gunked-up fuel line. He cleaned it up. The furnace still would not go on.

My first thought was, “Isn’t it lovely when these things happen on the weekend and there’s no quick fix?” I visualized the fuel company accountant ringing up our bill on an old-fashioned cash register. The imaginary transaction produced a very long receipt.

I was also concerned that the furnace, at 30-plus years old, had finally bit the dust. What do new furnaces cost? I didn’t know, but was sure it was more than we wanted to spend.

But I wasn’t hosting a pity party. I would much rather be without heat than power, if given the choice. During the Ice Storm of 1998, we lost power for several days. I could endure the daylight hours. Our bedroom faces south and stayed fairly warm. We huddled under comforters with our two dogs, so I was fine getting to sleep. It was the evenings that made me anxious. We were cold. The house was dark, except for lanterns and candles. There wasn’t much to do besides worry.

Though we had a wood stove, we weren’t using it back then because Paul has asthma. But after that experience, we tried using it again. In recent years, we have replaced the stove-to-chimney pipe and installed a new metal chimney. Our wood stove dates from the 1970s, when many Mainers bought them in response to the fuel crisis.

With these improvements, our vintage stove took on new life. It warms the downstairs and I can even use it to cook. I wouldn’t try to do anything with raw meat or fish, but I can heat up cans of soup or baked beans, or even make macaroni and cheese.

So when the furnace died the other day, I figured if we were without it for a couple of days I would be OK. We still had light. We still could run space heaters. I could still cook on my electric stove. After all that friends and colleagues had gone through in the past week (and some were still without power at that point), I wasn’t going to whine about losing heat.

As it turned out, I didn’t have to. Our tech, an affable young man, decided we needed a new motor. He headed downtown and got us one from the company’s headquarters. Soon, our furnace roared to life.

And when I say roar, I mean roar. The new motor was so loud, it sounded like the house was ready for liftoff. Given that it is a Victorian structure, I doubted it would survive an orbit of the earth.

During this whole time, I was sequestered in the family room with our two dogs. But I could hear Paul and the tech talking in the adjoining kitchen.

The technician was saying that most people, when faced with a furnace breakdown, immediately assume they will need a new furnace. He recounted the story of a man in his 20s who called his father and said, “Dad, I’m going to need $8,000!” The technician got the furnace up and running and the young man called his dad back. “Never mind."

“Is that what they cost nowadays?” Paul asked.

Yup.

We dodged the bullet this time. Our house is toasty and we haven’t had to use the woodstove yet. But colder days are coming, and the reality of climate change is that our storms are likely to be fiercer.

I have vowed to be grateful for my furnace and woodstove. One could go out any time. The other is a loyal friend.