Mostly goodness punctuated by terror.

[stonebender]

My live-in partner Carol is pretty famous around these parts for Christmas decorating our house. I'm not fond of Christmas decorating, but she gets such a big kick out of it that I'm willing to tolerate the inconveniences for the eight weeks or so that decorating is happening, being enjoyed, being taken down again. The thing I like the least about her decorating is that just about all of her energy goes into it. Leaving little for me (yes, I'm a selfish bastard). Consequently, I've felt pretty alone the last few weeks (with the notable exception of a serenejournal visit!)

Last night Carol went Costco shopping for a party she will be having for her cow-orkers. I tagged along for the company and the possibility of buying a new DVD. Buffy's fifth season is out! Anyway, we did some quick shopping. I decided against buying the fifth season. Someone may be getting it for me after all. We were both hungry, so we grabbed food at Cosco. I happened to like their pizza. We shared a Caesar salad. I had pizza and she had a Polish dog. The small eating area was filled, so we sat outside in the cold and had dinner. It was uncomfortable (being a lizard-boy, I'm not fond of cold), but weirdly fun. We talked like we haven't in months.

We stopped by Home Depot for new cabinet handles for Betty. We drank Lattes and hot chocolate at the evil place, S---b---ks, next door. We played backgammon until the place closed at 9 PM. When we got home. We turned on the wall heater in our study. I began to smell wood-burning. Carol pooh-poohed me (I don't have the best sense of smell) until she stepped into the study smelled it too. We immediately turned off the the wall heater. After quite a while the smell did go away, but I ended up staying awake until 4 in the morning. Until I was pretty sure there was no fire in the walls. We had planned on getting rid of the wall heaters and buying a new heating system. I guess those plans are going higher up on our house repair list. I know I will not be using the heater anymore this winter.

Comments

[misanthropoid.livejournal.com]

Have someone remove the cover from the wall heater and clear any dust or other debris that might have accumulated. Assuming that it is an electric unit, remove the plate that covers the wiring and check the area for scorching and deterioration of the wiring. I'm guessing that the first portion of the inspection will reveal the source of the odor. The second is purely precautionary. If neither reveals the problem then yes, not using the heater is the only reasonable option. There is no reason however, to let a dust bunny make you uncomfortable.

[stonebender.livejournal.com]

The wall heater is gas. We did open the access panel and there's nothing obviously wrong to our completely technologically impaired awareness. Our house is probably the oldest in our neighborhood, built in 1920. It suffers from a fair amount of neglect. The previous owners were both pretty old and one of them used a wheelchair. Which is partly why we own the house in the first place. We had budgeted a certain amount of money to make house accessible and were pleasantly surprised to find a wheelchair ramp already installed. Sort of felt like the house was built for us already.

The owner who owned the house before the people we bought it from fancied himself (I'm guessing) as quite the handyman. He wasn't much for building to code however. Were constantly surprised at what shows up as part of our house. For example, we have part of a car radiator hose as part of our bathroom sink.

I suspect the wall heaters were installed by him. Where these heaters were installed would never have been approved by a building inspector.

Thanks for the suggestions though, Carol can be very handy with tools, but I am clearly not.

[misanthropoid.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'm with you then on not using the wall heaters. Improperly installed gas heaters do not merit a great deal of confidence.

Around here 1920s vintage housing is practically new construction.

The radiater hose though, that shows inspiration.

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a wonderful 'date'. :) It also made me want a basket of fries.

[stonebender.livejournal.com]

That's interesting. I distinctly remember telling Carol that I wish Costco sold fries. Something about cold weather and hot greasy starch.