It Was Bound to Happen

Our furnace is older than me...it is the original furnace that was put in when the house was built thirty years ago. Every year, we pray and pray that the furnace will fire up and this won't be the year we have to pay to have it fixed, or worse, replaced. And since every year we are dreading what may happen, we put off starting the furnace as long as possible. We waited this year until this past Sunday, November 16. Now before everyone jumps all over me saying it has been too cold with the little baby at home, we bought a really kicking space heater which actually makes our rooms almost too warm. During the day I just turn it toward the play room. Anyway, on Sunday we turned on the furnace and were pleased that it worked! And then, it happened...we noticed that the fan was running but the air was cold. The pilot light was lit, but the burners weren't igniting. We decided it was time to bite the bullet and call someone in. We had done some minor repairs the past couple years, but this year we didn't want to take any chances. The company we called had someone over within a half an hour, which was awesome! $427 later, and we have a working furnace...for now. When I asked the guy what the life on older furnaces is, he laughed and said we're there. Furnaces are considered old at 10-12 years. But, on a positive note...these dinosaur furnaces are less technical, and therefore have fewer things that can go wrong. He said a majority of service calls he goes out on are for the newer models with all the electrical gadgets. We are keeping our fingers crossed that we make it through the winter. While I was fully expecting to hear that our furnace needed to be replaced today, I wasn't really prepared to fork over $2500 or whatever it costs for a new furnace.