Our neighbor was going away with her family for a two-week vacation, and since I live with my elder brother, she asked me to house sit for her.
I was so excited, and I had always imagined myself seated in front of a beautiful gas fireplace like the one they had on a cold evening with a good book.
They had a task for me while they were away. They were going to be on vacation on the day they had scheduled for their furnace/heater tune-up. They asked me to make sure everything went well with the maintenance. They called the heating corps earlier to try and reschedule, but winter was fast approaching, and they wouldn’t be able to slot them in. They would have to wait well into the winter to set a later date. Four days after they had left, the home services truck was driving up the driveway. The HVAC repairman was a friendly person who did not mind me tagging along and asking questions. Besides servicing the boiler installation and duct cleaning, they were to make sure that the ductwork was in good condition and clean the washable filter. It had never occurred to me that a gas furnace could have one of those since instead of cleaning, we replaced ours. I learned about whole-home heating and energy-saving help mechanisms that one could quickly get from the heating provider, such as a smart thermostat that could save up to ten percent of the energy consumed. With everything I learned that day, I was keener on the HVAC duct, and I was the first person to notice if there was a leak.