For the second time this winter, it seems our heat is about to go kerplunk . . . kerplooye!

Back in October when we first turned it on, it made a horrible smell (more than the normal just turned on the heat smell) and was dead within a day. The man came to fix it and basically said we had a buildup of suet in the heater and ducts (we have oil heat). We had been bad and not had it cleaned in a few years it seemed (since they installed the new system). He was also concerned that a bird may have built a nest in the chimney/output and it might be clogged. He said we needed to drop a brick down it tied to a string or something to try and clear it.

Dustin does not climb ladders and does NOT go on the roof, that is John’s job. He’s the handy one, he’s the one always cleaning the gutters out. So I told him to do this . . . apparently he never did.

So surprise, we wake up today and the house wreaks of suet and oil. Yeah, it seems the heater is going to break again. John’s cousins installed it and cleaned it out last time, so I was waiting for him to call them. Oops he got too busy to do so. So now we get to pay them overtime tomorrow! Assuming they can make it out that is. Right now I turned the heat off, as the smell was over-riding the benefit of the warmth.

I also suggested we clean the chimney or whatever if that is why this was happening. “And how does one do that?” was his response . . . . This from a man who owns the special edition DVD of “Mary Poppins.” YOU CALL A CHIMNEY SWEEP!

Grrrrrr. I want him HERE when his cousins come again to fix this heater so they can tell him what is wrong and how to fix it. They can scold him this time 🙂

Needless to say, I will be hitting La Tar Jay tomorrow to pick up a few small space heaters. We have 2 big flameless “As Seen On TV” Amish ones upstairs (John bought them) and they do work very well. However one is in our room, the other in the guest room. We’ll probably have to bring the second down stairs at some point. However Emily comes tomorrow, so she’ll need that one in her room if the heat is not fixed by tomorrow evening. So I need to pick up a small dinky 25 dollar one for the living room to suffice. I have one as is (from my old Philly apartment), I just need another as it’s not enough for the space. Given this is the 2nd time this has happened this season, I want some extra heaters in case March rolls around and the heat breaks yet again.