Place Jacques Cartier, Montreal
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Last year (2015) was the coldest February on record for quite a bit of North America. Given that winter also arrived relatively early, it was a pretty miserable winter. It was also referred to in our house as the $700 cheque winter. What I mean by that is every time we turned around we were writing another cheque for $700 for something that had broken during those frigid days of January and February. Part of the problem is that we moved into a house that had been renovated in 2000. That means all the appliances (including the furnace) are 15 years old. These days, 15 years is the magic number for appliance breakdowns. It also seems as if cold weather exacerbates potential problems.
Breakdowns: January and February 2015:

The furnace broke down twice, however, because we have a monthly maintenance plan, there was no additional charge (whew!). We thought we were safe. But then,

Our washing machine broke. The repair man said it was 15 years old and to fix it would cost $1600. I ended up finding a pair of front-end loading five-year-old washer and dryer set on-line for $700.

The transmission for the electric garage door opener broke. Replacement for it plus new garage door springs, remote and keypad — which hadn’t worked since we’d moved in two years earlier — was $700.

The car battery died. The new battery cost $350. Aha! half of the other costs — except there was additional work to be done on the car which naturally brought the bill up to $700.

The shower in the boys’ bathroom stopped working inexplicably. While I am pretty handy at fixing things, I couldn’t figure out what was going on with this shower. It took two plumbers, a new cartridge for the shower handle, and — you guessed it — $700 for the problem to be solved.

The worst week was the first week in February when the car battery died, washing machine and garage door broke all within 24 hours just as we were preparing for a cardiology appointment for our daughter who was suffering from an irregular heartbeat. I think the financial distractions were easier to absorb because they were secondary to our daughter’s health (fortunately she turned out to be fine).

Breakdowns: Winter 2016.

Unfortunately, this winter, although so mild until January that you weren’t really sure what the date was, hasn’t started out well. Our problems with the furnace continue. Worse, we now have the carbon monoxide detector going off almost daily. When the furnace guys came to investigate, they discovered that the fresh air intake pipe was installed right next to the dryer exhaust, so whenever the dryer is on, the hot moist air from the dryer condenses around the gas air intake, freezing and blocking the pipe with ice. That forces the furnace to produce CO because it’s not getting enough air and combusting properly. Needless to say, we are investigating a new furnace and given that we live in the province with the cheapest electricity in North America, I am looking into electric boilers. I want to get gas out of the house.  Although we are diligent about turning the furnace off and airing out the house, we have become a little blasé about the whole situation. Not good when you are talking about carbon monoxide, aka the Silent Killer.

I am holding my breath waiting for whatever else winter holds for us this year — and really looking forward to warmer weather!