Furnace Issues...

    Well, this is a fine how-do-you-do...

     Last night, my furnace decided to go a little "splody."  Normally, when it decides to work, it will hiss as gas is dispensed, followed by a brief buzzing sound, and this is usually capped off by an impressive "whoosh" as it fills its belly with nice, happy, helpful fire to warm the house.
   
    However, over the course of the previous winter, the buzzing has gotten longer, and the "whoosh" has gotten bigger and more intimidating.  And, yesterday, it blew a whole bunch of flames out the front like some sort of carnival show.  It was actually pretty neat, and well...  very hot!  Which, I suppose is what a furnace is supposed to do --just not all at once. 

    So, I flipped the little kill switch to shut it down, while DeafCat poked her nose around looking for a cheap high on natural gas fumes.

    Great, I thought.  My cat's a freakin' huffer, and my furnace is a bomb.  How did my life come to this?

    On the plus side, this isn't entirely unexpected.  The furnace is old, and I've been doing what I can to keep it alive through winter (it's got the dents and scratches in its sheet metal to prove this).  And, I knew it was pretty much only a matter of time before I would have to stop my heroic efforts and inevitably pull the plug on the old beast.  After all, replacing a furnace in the dead of winter is not just a hassle, it's an expensive hassle.  So, I think I achieved a small victory of sorts, and now, since the prospect of hypothermia is only slightly possible, I can take my time in replacing it, and I plan to enjoy the summer sitting on the patio watching the squealing A/C unit expire before replacing them both.  Fortunately, I have some chums who do this sort of thing for a living.  Unfortunately, I'm certain a considerable beer-gratuity will be tacked on to material costs in lieu of a labor charge. 

     Ah well...  the only glitch is that the lows are forecast to be in the forties for the next few days, so I'll just have to find a better blanket and pretend that I'm camping or something. 

-DP