Possible good news

Thursday, 10:23 am

By Kate

Last Sunday I went over to some friends’ house for a Super Bowl party. I got there a little early, bearing fresh baked cranberry bread. While standing around in the kitchen talking, the subject of broken furnaces came up. Now, these people know their furnaces. Both are mechanical engineers who designed their house and built it stick by stick and pipe by pipe, including heating system installation. I described my furnace’s behavior and they both said at once, “It sounds like the pump.” They took me down to their furnace and showed me what the water pump looks like. It’s a small object that is installed on the copper piping above the main furnace housing. They turned their furnace on so I could listen. Mine makes all the same sounds as theirs does, except for the pump switching on.

The Mister said, “I’ve replaced ours a couple of times. They burn out every few years. They’re easy to replace and pretty cheap. I can check your furnace out if you want and replace the pump if it needs it. But if you want the plumber to do it, it’ll still only run a couple hundred dollars.”

Heck, yeah. A new furnace at $6000-7000 vs. a new pump at $275. This could, potentially, qualify as the best news of the year.