Wayne weekly “Christmas Warmth”

I tried.

I tried to extend the life of my furnace by buying a new Honeywell replacement gas valve. I hired a HVAC specialist (heating, ventilation, air conditioning guy) to do the changeover. I actually believed that my 18 year old high efficiency furnace would be with me till the end. I thought we were both equals on the life expectancy grid.

The repair person did the work, made adjustments, but informed me that the average gas forced air furnace life expectancy was approximately 15 years. What! I remember growing up with converted coal furnaces that just kept pushing out heat for years. The giant in the basement with its octopus arms would heat a plenum up, and the earth’s gravity would keep quiet, heated air flowing up through the registers for what seemed to be hours.

I was warned. My furnace had seen better winters in Central New York…it was a matter of time.

As predicted, the next season I had more problems. They seemed to me minor ones (what do I know). Another call was made in hopes of a long lasting cure. This time it was the inducer motor. That’s the little motor that blows the byproduct of burning fuel out through a PVC pipe through the side of my house. Again I was given the dreaded heads up… “Your furnace is at the end of its life cycle”. The repairman added, “Do you have a Co2 detector in the house?” I did, but that question raised as many red flags as anyone could possibly wave.

A few weeks later I succumbed to common sense and the concern for safety. A new furnace was installed. I was good for another fifteen or so years, and besides, the thought of my wife and me crowding around a space heater in the dead of winter when our old furnace gave up the ghost, just wasn’t an adventure I wanted to take.

When the holidays come around we often describe those special days as “the warmth of”. I know what that means, it expresses the intensity of emotion. It describes the love of God in sending His Son for us. It means love of family, the fellowship of good friends. Those things are warm and true.  But, I have to admit, for me this winter holiday season it has an extended and more literal meaning…it means “I want heat in my house!”

“…He also warms himself and says, “Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire.”                                                                                                        Isaiah 44:16b