Bucky's Aventures In Heating and Air Conditioning

Well, today has been a day filled with service industry education. Not really by choice, mind you, and no it wasn’t for my job. When I woke up this morning I had no idea that by the end of the afternoon, that lifelong question of Ford vs. Chevy would be answered, or that I would now know what the acronym on my furnace stands for. You know how they say you learn something new every day? Well, some days, you learn stuff you never even knew you didn’t know!

First I’ll start with my education in Heating and Air Conditioning. About a week ago, we had a bit of a cold spell. (That’s my really nice way of saying that despite the fact that it’s fricking June, and that today is supposed to be the beginning of summer, the weather has been mostly schizophrenic in Idaho, one day snowing, the next day being in the mid 80’s). The positive side to this is that I don’t ever have to worry about my air conditioner being jealous of my heater or vice versa. You know how they say you might be from Idaho if you use the heater and air conditioner in one day? Yeah, they weren’t really joking! Anyhoo, back to the cold spell. The afternoon and evening before had been pretty hot, we had slept with the windows open. I woke up the next morning to a thermostat that read 66. Now keep in mind, I’m a cold blooded person anyway (some people who have commented here will be smiling in wry agreement), and I am not really comfortable until it’s about 75 degrees. So, I did what any young woman fortunate enough not to be born in a third world country would do. With a push of a button, I turned the Heat setting to on and headed down to my office with my cup o’ Joe ready to start the day. I heard the furnace click on, like it always does, and noticed it was kind of loud. And as I walked across a vent in the kitchen to open the patio blinds, I noticed no air was coming through. Hmmm…..strange. I walked in to the living room and stood on that vent. Nothing. So I proceeded to check most of the vents in the various three levels of my house. I could hear the furnace was on, there simply was no air. So I went down to the laundry room, which also houses the furnace and water heater and checked to see if the pilot light was lit. Here, I had to stop for a moment, sipping my coffee smugly and pat myself on the back. How freakin cool am I that I don’t even have to call my husband at work and ask him where the pilot light is? I rock. Anyhoo, pilot light is lit. Damn, guess that means I don’t have to break out the cool new lighter thing I bought this weekend to light the fire pit. So, I go upstairs and turn the heater off. I then switch the setting to cool to test a theory. I set the AC to 65 and wait. Again, I hear the tell tale “click” and see the “Cool on” flash onto the screen of the digital readout. I hear the sound of the AC, (along with a lot of squeaking). So I head to the nearest vent, and…….nada. No air. So, long story short, (yes I know you are thinking short, my ass lady, that took forever!) I texted my landlord and let him know the problem. He said he would send someone right out. This was, of course, a Saturday, so I pretty much knew it would be Monday before I saw anyone. Now, one might think that not having any air conditioning or heat in June in Idaho would be a colossal problem, but fortunately, this happened during an uncommonly mild week. So it really hasn’t been that much of an issue. However, I am told it will be 90 by mid week, so I’m starting to get a little concerned. I won’t bore you with the details of the now 4 service calls that have been made to my home by some very nice gentleman in the heating and air conditioning business. (Two within one day). I’m not really sure why there have been so many, because they all end up telling me the same thing, that basically, my furnace is an antiquated piece of crap and has to be replaced. Actually, one of them actually used the word condemned! The really good news in all of this is that I am renting this house, so, I am not going to have to come up with the funds to replace the furnace. Unfortunately, my super nice landlord is going to have to, but I have to remind myself that this is why I pay rent. And the house was built in the mid 80’s so it was bound to happen. The reason I am telling you this long, drawn out story is because during all of these visits, these extremely nice and knowledgeable service men have told me more about heating and air conditioning then I will ever need to know in my natural life. I nodded politely, inserted the correct amount of eyebrow rising and “Oh really” into the conversation, but in all reality, I am quite certain that everything they told me went in one ear and out the other. Oh, well, fortunately, there won’t be a test later, and it’s not like I have to do the replacement. And while I have no way of knowing if these men were completely and utterly full of crap, I have to say I was impressed with their knowledge, punctuality and kindness. They asked before entering a different room, (one even asked if he was going to wake any sleeping babies), they wiped their feet, etc. Apparently my tri level home is going to be a pain in the arse because they are going to have to re-vent and this is going to involve something about a covered ceiling. Again…all Greek to me but they totally sounded like they knew what they were talking about. They are all insisting that once they get everything approved with the landlord they will have me up and running as soon as possible, as they know it’s supposed to be really hot this week. This was a good experience in service. Now, granted, I might not feel as warm and fuzzy about it if I were the one footing the bills for the new furnace, but all in all, I now know why these guys have been in business for 101 years. So if you live in the Magic Valley, and you are in need of some type of heating and air conditioning service, I would highly recommend Brizee Heating and Air Conditioning. (I rarely, if ever endorse companies in my blog, but I also had a really crappy service experience today, so I am stepping out on a limb here). For the story of my crappy experience…….stay tuned. If you don’t already follow me, become a follower now so you won’t miss the gripping second installment!