Heat & Electricity

I intended to include our 2015 goals and resolutions in this post, but my quick electrical and heating update became lengthy. Therefore, I will be writing two posts. Our goals and resolutions will be posted tomorrow. 

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During our ORC update in December I mentioned that I was waiting on a call from the electrician that we used for our panel upgrade. I got a call back, and he scheduled a time to come over to troubleshoot. I felt uneasy, because over the phone, it was impossible to ballpark any sort of cost for our project. New wiring for a dedicated circuit that would support space heaters safely, would be very costly since the bedrooms are about as far from the electrical panel in the basement as they could be. It was suggested that we decide our spending cap for the work in case the project ran into snags. Yikes! That is not the way we usually work. (Disclaimer: Andy and I would not enter into this type of agreement without a lot of thought. This company is very experienced and highly regarded in our community. They are trustworthy.)

In the meantime, our friend had trouble with his dual unit furnace. Only one side was working. This got Andy thinking. Only one side of our house is cold. Could we have a dual unit too? 

Our furnace is in a dark corner of the basement, and it faces sideways. Andy regularly changes the filters, but he is admittedly not a detail person. Even though I spend some time in the basement working and making sure nothing is leaking, I had never taken the time to walk over and look at the furnace from the front. This is my view on the way out of the room that we utilize in the basement. I had to turn on three lights to take the photo.

Upon closer inspection, Andy discovered that, sure enough, we do have a dual unit, and only one side was working. For me, this was great news. HVAC problems are straightforward, and the bill would be straightforward too. We would not necessarily like the cost, but it would not be all loosey goosey, anywhere from $200-$4000 or more depending on, well…everything, like our electrical project. Looking at the photo now, we both see the two units right away. The left side furnace was the dud.

We had an HVAC technician on our doorstep in less than 48 hours. At first he was stumped. When he opened the unit, he fiddled around a bit, and it started working. That made it seem like an intermittent issue. However, neither Andy nor I could remember ever having heat on the one side of the house. The furnace had been fired up by the inspector during the buying process, but that was just a quick on/off.

It made sense to us that Dorothy may not have noticed a heating issue even though the units were installed in 2002. She lived in BHH as an extremely frugal single person for many years. I am told that she only occupied a small portion of the house, and we find no evidence that the rooms she used regularly were on the cold side. Remember, the two boys’ bedrooms were completely uninhabitable when we moved into BHH. In addition, she did not utilize the room off the kitchen at all. The kitchen felt warmer because it was right beside the portion of the house than had a working furnace.

The technician read all of the accompanying installation materials. He discovered that the wiring was not done properly when the two units were tethered together to work with one thermostat. He rewired the units, and we were back in business. We had heat in the library, the kitchen, laundry and the boys rooms.

Now all four kids have their own working heater vent to huddle over in a Dickensian manner. Why is it that kids would rather complain about the cold than put on more clothes? I should write a kids’ self-help book titled: Put on a Sweatshirt. Seriously. Just Do It.

The furnace repair cost around $200, but I was not upset. Without the need to use space heaters in the rooms, we did not need any rewiring at this time. Therefore, our open-ended electrical project was reduced to simply repairing outlets in the boys’ bedrooms and securing the damaged electrical connection back to the side of the house.

The electrician arrived the next day. He agreed to play phone tag with the electrical company about the outdoor electrical connection. It came loose during the November storm. The electric company said to call an electrician. Our electrician said that it was the responsibility of the electric company.

Next, I explained that our project had changed, and he let me ask him important questions such as, “What makes a vintage house like ours suddenly burst into flames?” (For the record: Having a proper panel in place with the correct fuses is at the top of the list. We have both.) Andy and I have many future plans for BHH that will likely require new wiring, and our electrician explained how good timing for the work would decrease our costs. He described some efficient ways that new wiring can be done. We also looked at the outlets in the boys’ rooms.

The electrician will be back to inspect the wiring and repair the housing boxes for the outlets. In the meantime, both boys have one working outlet that is safe enough to use.

That is how things currently stand. The heat is on, and we are waiting for the electrician to return for the minor electrical repairs necessary. The next expected high cost repair is the roof. We will have that done in the spring. In the meantime, we are saving a little cushion for any unexpected repairs on the other systems of the house. Living in an old house generates a constant stream of questions: “What’s that smell? Do you hear that sound? Is that normal? Should that be wet?” Coincidentally, those are the same questions we had when we brought home our first baby.