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Things have been smoking around here.
Literally.
Smoking Part 1: One night last week, I had to get up in the
middle of the night because the house was freeeeeezing cold. I checked
the furnace and it wasn't running. I flipped the reset switch, the oil
burner started up and then...FWHOOMP! A cloud of smoke poured out of the
main unit. It only lasted a second or two--and it wasn't all that much,
I guess--but it still scared the crap out of me. I called Petro the next
day to come take a look at it and after telling the story to the service
tech, he just kinda nodded and said it wasn't anything to be too
concerned about. Really? Apparently, since it's an old unit it
sometimes takes a couple of seconds for the main unit to kick on after
the burner starts up, so the smoke is just the excess oil being burned
off. Um, okay...
Smoking Part 2: (This actually happened a couple of months ago,
but it certainly fits the Smoking Household Appliance pattern) I was in
the den checking email early one morning when I thought I smelled
burning plastic. It was that acrid nasty type of smell, you know? So I
went into the kitchen and lo-and-behold...the coffee maker had smoke
billowing out of the top of it. No, not steam--smoke. And not only that,
the coffee in the carafe was boiling like mad. Great. Fortunately, I was
able to unplug it (using a broom handle and oven mitts) and toss it out
in the backyard before flames started shooting out of it.
Smoking Part 3: Loaded the dirty dishes into the dishwasher. Put
the dish soap in. Closed the dishwasher. Hit the "Start" button. Heard
unnatural grinding noises. Stared at the dishwasher for a few seconds.
Saw a wisp of smoke come out from the base panel. Hit the "Stop" button.
Opened the dishwasher. Cursed loudly. Did all of the dishes by hand.
So I wonder how good our homeowners' insurance policy is? |
2000-2010