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A Comedy of Errors

February 5th, 2009 at 02:06 pm

So yesterday I wake up to a cold house. I check the thermostat, and, although it is set on 72, the temp is 63.

To me, this means trouble. It means in another hour the temp will be 53, then 43, because something is wrong with the furnace.

I call the company who services us, and they cannot send anyone until about noon.

By that time, the temp has crept up to 67.

The technician checks everything out, and then tells me everything is working fine.

Why is it so cold? I ask.

Oh, well, heat pumps have trouble keeping up in very cold weather.

Who knew? I've never had a heat pump before -- only gas furnaces that efficiently pumped out the heat when it was cold.

I had to pay $98 to learn that.

Then I sat down to do my state taxes. I did the paper version, but the refund was much less than it had showed on TurboTax. (Even though I hadn't done state taxes on TT, there is a little box that shows estimated state refund even while you are doing your federal tax.) That worried me. I went to the NC website, and it directed to me to a free tax service through TurboTax called taxfreedom.com. I logged in, but since I used my ID and password, it flipped right over to the basic service, which charges $25.95. I tried to back out and log in with a new ID and password, but because it couldn't link to my federal info, it calculated a $0 refund. Going backwards!

I went back to the paper, and still couldn't find my error.

Went back to TurboTax and paid the $25.95. I'm getting a $480 refund, and I'm glad to be done with it. But now I'm $124 poorer, with all my goofing up.

Today a new problem: no water in the downstairs bathroom. I assume the pipe is frozen. Right now I am running the hot water in all the other taps, and I have a heater set up next to the pipe in question. So far no luck.

I am beginning to miss the frozen north. At least when it gets cold there, the systems can handle it!

3 Responses to “A Comedy of Errors”

  1. North Georgia Gal Says:
    1233846639

    Remind me never to get a heat pump!! I can't believe that something that can't keep up with the cold would be sold!! That is ridiculous!

  2. Ima saver Says:
    1233848927

    My husband has built over 80 houses. He tells the owners NOT to get heat pumps cause they don't work well when the temperature is below 42 degrees outside. 2 owners would not listen. They both had their heat pumps removed and gas heaters put in.
    Now they make a new heat pump that works with gas and they work well cause the propane takes over when it gets really cold. So the New combo heater is ok to use and he put it in the last house he built.

  3. Carolina Bound Says:
    1233858311

    I can't figure out why heat pumps are so popular. I guess the assumption is that it rarely gets this cold in the South. But when it does, yuck!

    Good news on the frozen pipe -- it thawed. I'm keeping a trickle of water running now.

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