Freezing in the night; no fireplace for santa

Lately we have been enduring a lot of problems with our home thermostat and temperature control methods. I should be clear, the biggest problem is our extremely drafty house and accompanying ancient furnace. During the summers our little place stays nice and cool, and we have consistently fresh and high quality indoor air whenever the AC is running. We can happily get through the 8 months of hot weather that settles into the area because there is proper ventilation to keep us happy and healthy. In the winter, however, our home really fails to meet expectations. There is cold air coming from all the doors and windows, and our old furnace provides uneven temperatures and wild fluctuations. This year we’ve been relying heavily on our wood burning fireplace to compensate for the poor furnace, especially at night when the air temperature has been dipping into the 20s. So far this method has successfully saved us from having to call out a professional HVAC technician to inspect the furnace and charge us thousands of dollars for an upgraded central heating unit, but there was one unforeseen hiccup in this plan. We never considered that my step son would be spending Christmas with us. We didn’t think about the fact that he is currently heavily invested in the myth of Santa Clause. No one considered that he would be upset if a fire was roaring in the fireplace on Christma Eve. None of the adults was quite as worried about Santa burning his old butt on the flames on the way down. Long story short, after an outburst of hysterical cries, we had quite a chilly Christmas Eve and really cranked the heat on Christmas morning.

 

Quality heating

All I want for Christmas are radiant heated floors

The older you get, the less fun holidays seem to become. I guess as a child I had this idea that getting older meant you had more control over the festivities and could really make them your own, but it turns out that the exact opposite is true. The older I get, the less control I have over the holidays. I spend the entire 3 months leading up to the big days preparing everything for everyone, and making sure that my schedule will accommodate all the family obligations. I say goodbye to hundreds of dollars and struggle for months afterwards. I also never ask for any gifts, and certainly never receive any that blow me away. Not this year, though. This year I’m asking for the one thing I really want without guilt, radiant heated floors. All year long, I am freezing cold. It could be the middle of a scorching hot summer when every other soul craves abundant AC, and I will still be covered in goosebumps and shivering. I spend all of my time wrapped in blankets and seeking out warm temperatures, all the while commuting to work and taking care of the entire household despite my cold, numb fingers. I give everything to everyone, including my internal body heat. Our old furnace is on it’s last leg and probably won’t even make it through the winter. At this point, I’m barely surviving with a dozen space heaters spread all over the house. My extremities are stiff with cold and I swear my heart has shrunk 3 times even since the fall chill settled in. But the holidays will be worth it and 2019 will be better. I’m certain that my husband will follow through and purchase brand new radiant heated flooring for the house, if he knows what’s good for him.

gas furnace

Dog is baffling – seeking heat

I will admit, I’m one of those annoying people who can’t stop thinking or talking about my dog. I am completely obsessed with the little guy, because no one is more loving, trustworthy, or loyal than him in my entire life. I adore my old buddy and I only want the best for him in every way. That’s why I took notice of his strange behavior last week and was immediately concerned that there was a serious problem. It began in the brisk fall mornings, when I would wake up and find that he wasn’t laying at the end of our bed like usual. Rather than laying in his warm, soft bed, I would find him on the cold, hard floor in the or sprawled out on the chilly tiled bathroom floor. He appeared to be quite content, but acted a bit guilty when I caught him lounging in these strange locations. It only continued throughout kitchen the week, and I was having to go searching for my dog in the house everyday after that. I honestly could not figure out what was going on with him. I was just about to bring him to the emergency vet when I happened to sit down on the floor next to him one day and realized what the hot issue was… the heat. My old dog wasn’t acting irrationally, in fact, he was intelligently seeking out heat sources throughout the house. All of his new favorite spots were conveniently located next to air vents, and my wiley dog was soaking up every ounce of warm air from the furnace that he could find. These days I’m less worried about him, afterall, I bought several space heaters so he can always lay comfortably in his favorite places.

hvac zone control

Spiteful power switch

Sometimes I wonder about people.

Namely, I wonder if my teenager is out of his damn mind, because he sure doesn’t know how to act appropriately.

It’s as if he has no concept of consequences, and just assumes he can go through the world acting like an ass if he so chooses. Well, that’s not how it works out on planet Earth, and it certainly isn’t how things are going to be run in my own household, I can tell you that. This little snot decided that he was immune to helping out with household chores last week, for example. When I lectured him on household responsibilities he ran off and locked his door. I let him sulk and figured I would deal with his bad attitude the next day. When I woke up the next morning, however, I found that the house was startlingly cold. Rather than worrying about my son, I had to deal with the thermostat. I went down the hallway and inspected the temperature control device, expecting that the ambient temperature had been changed on accident. Instead, I found that the smart thermostat device couldn’t connect to the central heating device. The touch screen monitor indicated that there was a power outage on the end of the furnace, and I was completely puzzled over the heating device. I figured that before calling a ventilation professional I would go inspect the power source myself and located the power box out in the garage. I was surprised to find the heater switch was flipped off… How could only the furnace be affected by a power outage? That’s when I realized my son was already out of the house and put two and two together. That little shit, apparently he was still so hot headed in the morning that he attempted to freeze me out.

New air conditioning information

AC system revolts, Indian summer

Everyone I know right now is sick, and the reason is clear. It’s not that there’s some horrible superbug going around, infecting the entire population. Instead, I’m pretty positive that the cause is completely environmental. You see, our outdoor air temperature has been all over the place for a few weeks now, and I’m certain it can’t be good for anyone. One week it was 30 degrees and rainy each day. The next week our cloudy skies spontaneously cleared up and the temperature rose back into the 40s for a while. Without warning, the temperature then skyrocketed back into the 70s without a single apology for the rollercoaster. As such, everybody switched back and forth between putting on heavy layers to compensate for the low air temperature and donning summery tank tops when the sun was shining. It’s been a wild ride and I doubt it’s good for anyone’s immune system. I know it hasn’t been good for my HVAC system! During all of these climate changes our thermostat has seen a lot of activity. We were actually using the central heat on a daily basis until the the outdoor temperature spiked again. Suddenly, we were shutting off the furnace and asking the AC unit to show up for work once more… the problem is, our AC unit apparently was ready for a long winter hibernation. The cooling system definitely did not appreciate a sudden call to duty, and instead of powering back up to provide fresh, cool indoor air, the whole AC unit went down in a steaming heap. By the time we had a professional HVAC technician inspect and repair the central cooling system our temperature had shifted again and we were back to using the furnace.
Geothermal heat pump