Murphy's Law, Furnace Repair, The Week Between Christmas And New Year's, And You
Posted on: 27 December 2019
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Murphy's Law is a folklorish statement proclaiming that "anything that can go wrong when you least expect it and least want it to, will." In regards to furnace repair, it means that your furnace is most likely to break down during some of the coldest days of the year, you will not be financially ready for it, and the HVAC technicians in the area are all out of town and not working. In short, if your furnace stops working between Christmas and New Year's, you may have a very large and unpleasant problem on your hands. Here is what will most likely happen:
Most Repair Technicians Are out of Town
Almost every technician you call during this particular week are either out of town and not working, or their work schedules are backed up to make up for all of the service calls they are trying to cover while other technicians are out of town for the holiday week. If you are really lucky, you might get an appointment with a repair technician somewhere between the second day after Christmas and New Year's Eve, but you will have to wait and hunker down until the technician arrives.
Warmth Priorities and Accomplishing Them
If you have children and pets, you need to keep them warm. The colder it is outside, the faster it will get cold inside the house. Find some safe space heaters that feature automatic turn-off switches when toppled, and do not have a lot of wires that become too hot and can burn anyone that accidentally touches them. Put these heaters in common rooms, and close off areas of the house that are not used during the day.
Electric blankets will help everyone stay warm at night, as will co-sleeping, if your own bed is big enough to fit everyone. Make sure your pipes are all well-insulated so that they do not freeze, and run the taps for a minute or two every hour when you can. If you can afford it, consider going to a hotel for a few days until the HVAC repair technician can arrive to fix your furnace. Take hot showers to keep warm and keep the pipes from freezing, and run the hot water appliances and stove as often as you can to help with the heating and pipe situations. Hopefully, you will only have to wait a couple of days while you do all of the above.