This past week was our first snow storm. That being said, we had yet to test the heating unit to below freezing temperatures until then. We keep our house set at 69 when the heat is on...but the first night of snow it was only 66 degrees in our house. I didn't think much of it. We slept fine no biggie. Then Friday it was 61 degrees at bedtime. At that time I just thought it was our unit not keeping up with the freezing temperatures. I know, I know....that's not good reasoning considering we knew we had a good unit. But it's my first home! There are some things that repeated apartment life trained my brain to believe....that is one of them. I thought this was "normal". So we added blankets and were fine.
Saturday morning it was 59...FIFTY NINE! And after a few hours of being awake it was 56....this is when we realized something was wrong. I tried restarting the thermostat...pulled out the binder of manuals the previous owner had left us (every manual for everything she left in the home) and tried to figure out error codes....nothing helped. In fact, the unit would kick on and blow cold air. NOT GOOD! I tried calling American Standard....figuring they would help us troubleshoot since that was the manufacturer. They were closed. So we decided we had to call a repair man. After getting suggestions from friends and family, we decided to call a dealer that the manufacturer "suggested". We searched the website for the nearest dealer and called the first on the list: Shockley's Central Heating.
They came out within a few hours, were very polite and proceeded to tell us that we don't have a really nice unit...we have one of the nicest you can get. He said that the filter alone would be $1200. That it's a tested filtration system, with results showing it can eliminate the flu virus from the air. He asked if we put the system in and when we told him it came with the house, he said we really lucked out and bought from the right lady. The bad news was, he thought it was the motor. And they couldn't get the part until Monday.
What to do....what to do....we weren't sure. We had countless friends and family offer us their homes. It was quite humbling really and made me feel really loved and supported. In the end we decided to tough it out and stay in our house. I'm thankful for that decision now (though I'm pretty sure a sleepover with the Markmiller family would have been amazing). We moved our bed into the living room by the fire and my AMAZING in-laws not only brought space heaters once, but twice (after going to three stores to find two more). So we lit the fire, turned on the space heaters throughout the house and layered every blanket we had on the bed.
It really wasn't ever too cold. It stayed around 57 which was bearable with the heaters...and let's face it...having your bed in the living room is actually pretty fun! Monday came around and Shockley's came back out...with our new motor. It was quickly installed and he knocked on the garage door with that look that just says "I've got bad news". It wasn't the motor...in fact it's the board that's bad. And apparently, this is such a rare thing (because the system is so nice) that they don't even keep the boards in stock! So we had to have it shipped from Texas .... praying the weather didn't delay it.
It did. But only 1 day! Today we had the new board put in, the heat came on, and it was awesome! What's more awesome, is that because the previous owner left all her paperwork I had the warranty registration which meant that the entire system is under warranty! That meant all we had to pay was $164 for labor/service. INCREDIBLE! And as I signed the work order it stopped....seriously?! The repairman quickly discovered it was our pre-filter and showed me how to clean that to prevent this from happening again...I guess when the unit can't "breathe" it shuts off when it gets too hot! Once he put it all back together it worked great and we are back to 69 degrees!
So all in all it took 1 week to get heat back, but it was kind of fun! And I've learned a few things from it:
1. Shockley's is awesome and I am glad to have a heat and air "guy" that I trust and don't feel creeped out by. I highly recommend them...just a dad and his sons repairing your units! I like it.
2. We have the greatest friends and family who constantly checked on us, offered us a place to stay, and kept us warm!
3. The woman who sold us our house is a saint...she poured so much money into making sure the house was energy efficient...including our fancy schmancy heat and air. We could not feel more grateful for everything she did in our home. (The fact that we never went below 54 without heaters made me feel awesome about our home!)
4. My work is awesome because I was able to leave every time I needed to meet Shockley's. Not to mention they're just great in general and I love my job.
5. The OKC Thunder beat the Grizzlies and Kelly Clarkson is singing Christmas music...and we have heat. That's a great night!
6. I'm reminded this holiday season how often we take things for granted. Family. Friends. Jobs. Money. HEAT....
7. I am a beyond blessed woman who is so very thankful for all she has in life.
And peanut will be a little sad that the bed is going back where it belongs 
