At the end of the fall season, when I first started up the heater, I knew there was a problem. The heating plan made some strange sounds whenever it cycled on, as well as there was a burning smell coming from the vents. I also noticed a significant amount of airborne dust circulating around the house. I hoped that this was simply the result of dust burning off the components as they heated up. At that point, our life was especially hectic, as well as I simply didn’t have the time to schedule heating system maintenance. Unfortunately, the performance of the heating system worsened, as well as by the end of December I finally called for repair. With the holidays as well as the especially freezing weather, all of the local heating plus air conditioning companies were overrun with overflow business. The earliest available appointment was right after the new year. My heating system managed to operate for another week and a half. It quit in the middle of the night, when the outside temperature was down to 35 degrees. Unwilling to spend the money on overtime charges for emergency service, I convinced my small family that the four of us could survive a week straight without a working heating system. We all closed off most of the rooms of the small house as well as limited ourselves to the family room, kitchen as well as bathroom. We each individually dragged our bedding into the living room as well as set up a plugin space heater in each of the four rooms. I tried to make it an adventure for the youngsters, however the four of us couldn’t hide our frustration. When the heating plus air conditioning company finally arrived to complete the repair, the tech informed my husband and I that he’d need to order some parts. My family was then forced to live without the heating system for another three days.