Well, okay… it’s not actually that cold, but it’s occasionally cold enough to warrant a good, working furnace. Hey! We just got one of those!

Yup, on Tuesday of this week the good people of Direct Energy came and installed our new furnace and central air-conditioner. We probably could have gone a cheaper route and had been investigating some other providers, etc. But after so long of staring at metal boxes that make your house warm, we really started to glaze over. Direct Energy gave us a not to bad price, and a payment plan for all the new stuff that neatly fits our budget.

The old furnace was a Lennox, and we figure that it must have been original to the construction of the house - which is really a testament to the longevity of Lennox equipment, as this place was built around 1965 or so (we think)! It was still providing heat, but was really at the end of it’s life expectancy and was time to go. The bearings in the fan were shot and squeaked something awful, and the old drum-humidifier was barely functional and had managed to rust a good portion of the duct work below it. On top of these issues, our home inspection had revealed a slight gas-leak by the pilot light of the furnace - nothing major - but definitely not something to leave unchecked.

We’ve also been told that it can get pretty hot in the summer time here in Pickering so we opted to install a central air system at the same time (unfortunately at the expense of some of the lily-of-the-valley in the front garden - may they rest in pieces).

So, we’re now the proud new payer-offers of a brand spankin’ new Trane Furnace, a Carrier central air-conditioner, a sexy humidifier (I’m not sure who the manufacturer is) and a funky digital thermostat on top of it all.

On the down side - there’s more holes in the walls for me to fix. I know we said that they could do whatever was necessary to run the lines for the air-conditioner, but jeez.

-Ted.