[Brinkley & Neyland's Mom]

This morning we woke up to a VERY cold house.

The unit was not working.

We were crossing our fingers it was the pilot light.

The gas company went out and called me to tell me that the heater exchange panel was cracked. (think that is what it is called) They had to disable the power to the unit b/c it was letting gas into our house. GREAT!

With the age of our unit, (13 years) he said a contractor would probably suggest a new unit. We did find out that we could replace the broken part...for 1000, but still have a 13 year old unit. Evidently it is on its last leg anyway.

So I called....a new unit....around 3000.00!!!!

We don't have it...not even close!!!!!!!!!!!
It is supposed to be 21 here tonight...so I am trying to round up some space heaters to keep the pipes from freezing...
I have another contractor getting us another estimate this afternoon...hopefully it will be less. We are not concerned with high end quality...I hate my house and where it is located and we hope to move sometime in the next few years. But heat/air is a necessity and it happened in the coldest week! I don't know that it hardly ever got down to 21 last winter!

Luckily, we have a friend at the bank and he will cut us a check this afternoon and we can pay it back with income tax return in February.
(for those of you that remember we had to do the same thing last year when the truck transmission went out!

)

We are in a very tight budget situation (of our own making) but we are trying to dig out of it...hard to do when crap keeps coming to bite you in the butt and ruin your plans!

I know I am just whining...
Paying for it by loan at least doesn't cut into our Christmas $$ or cause us to cancel our Thanksgiving trip...but still...I had OTHER plans for that income tax to help us so we wouldn't be in this situation when BIG things happen.

 

[Matilda's mommy]

I hope things get better for you.

 

[k/c mom]

If you get a gas furnace perhaps the gas company will finance it for you. I had to replace mine almost five years ago and I believe it was around $3,000 also. The gas company financed it at 9% interest over 5 years . . .

 

[HollyHobbie]

Man that sucks....

We had to get a new unit about four years ago...we had gas heat and electric air well the air needed replaced and it was not going to be much more to do a whole new heat air unit than it would be just to do air and the natural gass price was ouch...and the electrial company financed ours for us. it was nice

hum I guess I didn't finish my thought was going to say it was nice because it all came on one bill...so not only did we cut out our gas bill and the heat was cheaper the payment was added inot our bill.

 

[Toby's Mom]

Awwww...Traci, I'm sorry that happened. What a bummer. I know it is expensive but maybe it was God's way of saving you and your family. I mean if it was leaking gas, jeez, who knows what could have happened.

A few years ago, I got a call from our gas company that they needed to come out and look at our connections. So the gas man came, looked at everything, said it was fine and left. Well 30 minutes later the house is freezing and the heater won't turn on. I call them back and the man comes out. Apparently when he was there looking at the connections, he knocked something loose and broke it. Then he red tagged our heater and said it couldn't be turned on until it was fixed, mind you this was the early part of March when it is still freezing here. Long story short, $3,000 later, we had a new heater installed with no thanks to the gas company. The heating guy told us that our old unit was leaking carbon monoxide and it was a very dangerous unit to begin with because it was installed improperly (it wasn't a scare tactic either, they are friends of the family). He said that is probably why I wake up dizzy most mornings and my husband had constant headaches. So although it was a very expensive replacement, I like to think that God was looking out for us that day.

 

[LexiAndNikkisMom]

Originally posted by Kallie/Catcher's Mom@Nov 17 2005, 02:30 PM
If you get a gas furnace perhaps the gas company will finance it for you. I had to replace mine almost five years ago and I believe it was around $3,000 also. The gas company financed it at 9% interest over 5 years . . .
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I just saw something on the news the other day about how our electric company and gas company are having rebates and grants (or something) for people that make their homes more energy efficent. It would be worth checking into.

 

[triste]

UGH! I am so sorry your furnace went out when you needed it most and needed the bill the LEAST. I know that feeling. A few years ago our furnace died too. It was the first week of April and we toyed with the idea of waiting to replace it. However, we knew that sometimes Indiana is cold into May..so we replaced it. A week later it turned warm and we didn't need it. We put it on our home equity I do believe. I HATE using that. It's not like we don't have enough payments around here! Good luck..No matter which you end up doing..it's still a lot of cashola to come up with in a hurry. I must say that 13 yrs is young for a furnace...lord our last one was 25 yrs old. The only PLUS to us getting a new one is it is MUCH more efficient.

 

[Brinkley & Neyland's Mom]

Because they can't install the unit until at least Saturday, if not Monday or Tuesday...we had to beg people for space heaters and electric blankets.
Luckily we have gotten a kerosene heater, an electric space heater and an electric blanket so far. Our friends/church family are awesome! We even had an offer to spend the night...but I think camping out in the living room for a few nights will be fun. It will all work out in the end...now that my emotional breakdown is over...I can take a deep breath and recover, I think!

Thanks for listening and offering support.

 

[danah]

Traci when you said you woke to a cold house I thought hmmm was the power off from my house all the way to yours. lol

I also woke to a cold house but ours was due to the damage from the tornado. I got up at 4:30 to get ready for a hospital rotation to find we had no heat, everything here runs on electricity so I got out the oil lamps and blankets and Baxter and I snuggled in the recliner till electricity was restored around 10:00. I stayed home all day snuggling with Baxter.

I am so sorry for your misfortune. Perhaps you could check with the gas/electric company about financing it. They financed our hot water heater and the payments were just added into my monthly electric bill... just a thought

I'm glad though you found the problem and you and your family are safe.

 

[triste]

I just wanted to say..be careful with all of those space heaters..they can be dangerous if left unattended.

 

[TuckersMom]

So sorry to hear about your heat...I hate cold weather and I hate being cold. And I definitely know what you mean about being on a tight budget. We've been trying to get a lot of debt paid off and it seems that whenever you think things are going good, something always comes up. Heck, I'm usually scared it we have extra money(which is almost never) because I start thinking somethings gonna happen. Anyway, I hope you are able to get it fixed ASAP and maybe you can find some rebates or something. Good Luck!!

 

[scottchelf]

Originally posted by tlunn@Nov 17 2005, 02:29 PM
This morning we woke up to a VERY cold house.

The unit was not working.

We were crossing our fingers it was the pilot light.

The gas company went out and called me to tell me that the heater exchange panel was cracked. (think that is what it is called) They had to disable the power to the unit b/c it was letting gas into our house. GREAT!

With the age of our unit, (13 years) he said a contractor would probably suggest a new unit. We did find out that we could replace the broken part...for 1000, but still have a 13 year old unit. Evidently it is on its last leg anyway.

So I called....a new unit....around 3000.00!!!!

 

We don't have it...not even close!!!!!!!!!!!
It is supposed to be 21 here tonight...so I am trying to round up some space heaters to keep the pipes from freezing...
I have another contractor getting us another estimate this afternoon...hopefully it will be less. We are not concerned with high end quality...I hate my house and where it is located and we hope to move sometime in the next few years. But heat/air is a necessity and it happened in the coldest week! I don't know that it hardly ever got down to 21 last winter!

Luckily, we have a friend at the bank and he will cut us a check this afternoon and we can pay it back with income tax return in February.
(for those of you that remember we had to do the same thing last year when the truck transmission went out!

)

We are in a very tight budget situation (of our own making) but we are trying to dig out of it...hard to do when crap keeps coming to bite you in the butt and ruin your plans!

 

 

I know I am just whining...
Paying for it by loan at least doesn't cut into our Christmas $$ or cause us to cancel our Thanksgiving trip...but still...I had OTHER plans for that income tax to help us so we wouldn't be in this situation when BIG things happen.

 

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Poor Traci... I know EXACTLY what you are going through... let me tell you a story

January 28, 2003, we'd just found out that Traci is pregnant (found out 3 days prior), and this night is the coldest night of that winter season... temperture that night was 9 degrees. Well, we went to bed at 11PM, and I hadn't slept the past few nights because of learning that Traci was pregnant. Every little move she made, I jumped up to see if she is ok. Well, I would go to sleep, wake up, go to sleep, etc. Finally at around 1AM, I go to sleep, start dreaming, and KABOOM... I jump up out of bed, and said "what the he77 was that"? Then realized I was dreaming, only quickly discovering that I wasn't dreaming because Traci heard it too. So, I grab the pistol (thinking maybe someone just knocked my front door down) and go into the hallway, only to be overcome by the smell of natural gas.

Well, I called the fire chief and the gas company. Fire Chief comes over and doesn't find anything on the CO2 (Carbon Monoxide) monitor, and it didn't even detect any natural gas.

Gas Co. finally arrives and determines that gas had built up in the line, causing an explosion, bursting a head (I forgot the actual part), but anyways, he had to shut the gas off at the meter. He said we should of had a fire, but we were extremely lucky. He couldn't explain why we didn't have a fire or large explosion. He finally left at 20 mins. past 2AM. Well, Traci gets up at 5 to get ready to go to work, so we just turned on the electric blanket, threw a couple more blankets on the beds, and we (myself, Traci, and Cheyenne) keep warm. Traci takes Cheyenne to the baby sitter at 6 that morning, and it started getting to cold at that time, so I drove around town for 2 hrs until 8am. A friend of mine has a heating/air business, I told him my situation and he drove 90 miles to Louisville to his supplier to get a new furnace. He charged me $100.00 to drive that trip, but got it installed and it was burning fancy free that night. Total cost for the furnace was $1900.00 + the $100.00 I had to pay him to drive to Louisville.

In the end, my homeowners insurance paid the difference of the cost of the unit v/s my deductible, so I received a $1400.00 check in the mail 2 weeks later, and paid it off..... SO BE SURE TO CHECK YOUR HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE. They will tell you at first that it is just a maintenance issue and that it is not covered. Don't stop there. If you have no luck, let me have your information and let me call them on your behalf.

I'll pray for you all that you get it taken care of and it's not a financial stumble for you.

 

[fach]

Originally posted by tlunn@Nov 17 2005, 01:29 PM
This morning we woke up to a VERY cold house.

The unit was not working.

We were crossing our fingers it was the pilot light.

The gas company went out and called me to tell me that the heater exchange panel was cracked. (think that is what it is called) They had to disable the power to the unit b/c it was letting gas into our house. GREAT!

With the age of our unit, (13 years) he said a contractor would probably suggest a new unit. We did find out that we could replace the broken part...for 1000, but still have a 13 year old unit. Evidently it is on its last leg anyway.

So I called....a new unit....around 3000.00!!!!

 

We don't have it...not even close!!!!!!!!!!!
It is supposed to be 21 here tonight...so I am trying to round up some space heaters to keep the pipes from freezing...
I have another contractor getting us another estimate this afternoon...hopefully it will be less. We are not concerned with high end quality...I hate my house and where it is located and we hope to move sometime in the next few years. But heat/air is a necessity and it happened in the coldest week! I don't know that it hardly ever got down to 21 last winter!

Luckily, we have a friend at the bank and he will cut us a check this afternoon and we can pay it back with income tax return in February.
(for those of you that remember we had to do the same thing last year when the truck transmission went out!

)

We are in a very tight budget situation (of our own making) but we are trying to dig out of it...hard to do when crap keeps coming to bite you in the butt and ruin your plans!

 

 

I know I am just whining...
Paying for it by loan at least doesn't cut into our Christmas $$ or cause us to cancel our Thanksgiving trip...but still...I had OTHER plans for that income tax to help us so we wouldn't be in this situation when BIG things happen.

 

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Aww, I'm so sorry. I have been in similar situations myself. Thank goodness you have a friend [in banking] whom can help. Keep your chin up, and please be careful with those space heaters!!!

 

[Scoobydoo]

Omg Traci I am so sorry you have no heat, I sure hope you have something soon and it isn't too much of a burden funancially. I am very pleased that you are all safe also. Our temp this morning when I got up was 13 when I took Scooby out to go potty Brrrrrrrrrrrr that sure was cold and a bit of a shock after all the nice warm weather we have been having.
I sure hope you can all manage to keep toasty warm till you get your new furnace installed

Scott that sure was a scary story as well

You were very fortunate that you didn't have a fire or explosion, that would have been terrible

 

[Tavish]

Oh, what a terrible thing to wake up to!! While situations like this always seem to come at the worst time, it sounds as though you have everything under control and that you've received some wonderful advice from everyone on the forum. I myself was not having a very good day today, but after reading this thread, I feel quite uplifted. There are so many people concerned for your wellbeing and that of your family, I can't help but find it very touching and oh so wonderful, especially since I'm sure you have never even met most of them before! Very inspiring! Indirectly all of you have brightened my day, so thank you!

 

[miko's mommy]

Traci, That's terrible. I am sorry that this is happening to you. My parents have been in similar situations before but with their AC units, since they live in florida you can imagine how hot it gets without AC. My parents are always barely making ends meet so it always killed me when that happened to them. I am glad you can get a loan.

 

[scottchelf]

Aww, I'm so sorry. I have been in similar situations myself. Thank goodness you have a friend [in banking] whom can help. Keep your chin up, and please be careful with those space heaters!!!
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Some GOOOOOOOD advice there!!! especially with little ones (fur kids and skin kids)

I prefer a kerosene heater if you have one. Used mine yesterday actually until about bed time, and then we kicked on the furnace and shut off the kerosene.

Scott

 

[Brinkley & Neyland's Mom]

The space heaters are the electric kind. I feel safe with them...they just blow hot fan air. The worst part is that they kick our breakers off in the house b/c we need a larger breaker box. -_-

We did use the kerosene heater and that thing is WARM!

I just hate the smell.

I will be glad when things get back to normal though. I am really hoping the guy pulls through and will be able to install it on Saturday.

We will be able to make it through Christmas and our trip etc...I just won't get to pay off things I was intending to take care of with income tax money. Very frustrating!

We already checked into homeowners insurance and whether this part could have been damaged by the storms the other night...no such luck. Just an old furnace and an old part.

We will make it, we always do...things could be MUCH worse!

But for a few hours yesterday...I couldn't see beyond what was looming in front of me.
Thanks again for all the support and kind thoughts!

Ps: Scott, that was a VERY scary story...I love my gas heat, but that could make one think twice!

PPS: I am still getting Neyland...that is coming out of Christmas money!

The kids are excited about him coming home as I am...

 

[LexiAndNikkisMom]

My parents had to replace their furnace a couple of years ago. My uncle was friends with a guy that owned a heating and cooling installation company (or whatever you call it). Anyway they ended up getting it like half price or something because the guys sold us a "damaged" furnace (had a scratch on the side) that they couldn't sell to regular customers. I think they ended up with the furnace, ac, hymidipher, and some other thing for like $1500.

 

[scottchelf]

Hey Traci- you can buy this stuff from Lowe's for about $2.99 you put just an ounce of it per 5 gallons in your kerosene, and it masks the odor, and produces whatever flavor choose...apple, cinnamon, CHEERIOS!! YAY, J/K, lemon, cherry, or strawberry.. All the flavors stunk I thought except for the cinnamon

BUT, you have to be VERY cautious with it... it is poisonous if swallowed, and it warns that it can cause blindness/death if consumed.