This Year's Christmas Gift

I was at work yesterday and there was no action but I said: What the hell. I get paid for 9 hours! So why not? I in fact did a little work and that was transferring a number of documents to their related folder for further reference by the project, in case it would be needed. Rather than that it was a very boring and miserably cold day, like the other days of the week. 

Went to the Italian Centre Shop, which I had recently found on the web for some olives but it was so crowded that I found not worth the time! I got the hell out and drove home. Then at home I sat at the table to have something (although I was not hungry!) and check my e-mails and I thought it was not a very desirable temperature. Checked the ecobee thermometer on the wall and it showed 11.5 ℃  (nearly 53 ℉)! I just had heard an abnormal action(!) from the system and I realized that was it! It sounded that the thermostat shut the furnace off and then turned it back on immediately! 

It was not late but a day before the Christmas Eve is not usually that one would want to have a problem with their furnace while the outside temperature is about -24 ℃! (a little higher than -11 ℉). I remembered that I had the local newspaper delivered to my door the night before. I went to the classified section and called a heating business which is not too far. The guy said that because they had not previously provided any service to us, he would not be able to do anything! Honestly I was even surprised that he answered and even more surprised when he said that he might be available tomorrow morning! The second fella had a message on his phone asking people to send him text messages! When I did that he asked me who I was and wrote that he had not received any messages from me before!!It's a strange world with lot's of wired people! I briefly explained to him what had happened and his response was: I'm at a party!! Then he sent me a message and asked me to clear the vent and restart the furnace! I didn't get the point at the beginning. So I called the third guy. This time a lady picked up and said that he would ask a technician to give me a call and started asking questions. I easily hear a background noise which indicated she was at her home and being just day away from Christmas Eve, was distracted by all the events associated with the holidays. After a few question I realized that she was not paying attention and I wished her a good night and hung up! 

Then I thought of what the guy had sent as a message about the vent. There are two pipes sticking out of the front wall of the place, next to the balcony. I look and it, the one I assumed it was the vent, was solid blocked by a big chunk of ice. I broke part of it but the inside was clogged. Then I tried to break the ice inside but it was not accessible. My next solution was using hot water(!) and in order to do that I had to clean the balcony, at least partially, from a 1-foot snow. It appeared that the ice was being affected by the hot water and it showed it was effected when I re-fired the furnace but it froze again quickly and pushed the furnace back and the temperature as it was very cold! 

I eventually decided to stop after 2 or 3 attempts proved ineffective in frigged night and decided to go to bed. I guess I had two pullovers and a jacket and still was not very effective, I didn't sleep much. Same story the next morning due to the low temperature. It was eventually my neighbour whom I ran to and helped me! She brought a ladder and a crowbar and started breaking the ice inside and that was it. I can sleep comfortably tonight!

(Photo: The balcony after it was plowed enough to reach the vent. You can see the top of the Bear Spray at the right bottom corner of the picture. Refer to this post for the related story!)