We are truly Thankful to be alive this year!

This is a picture of our cracked heat exchanger that was leaking CO into our home. Remember, we just moved into this home in August of this year. Our inspector told us to have it serviced, and that it looked like it was not in good shape. Whoever serviced this unit, could not have opened the unit, or else has a death wish for us. We are very lucky to be alive. The good news is that our home came with an American Home Shield warranty that covers this repair, the bad news is that they have been playing games with the contractor and us for the last week and a half trying to find a loop hole that would keep them from having to pay for it. We are thankful for every warm day we have had in the last week and a half!!

Yes, we seem to have heating and cooling issues with all of our homes. And yes, we seem to have issues with inspectors not giving us the full story. I guess that's what happens when you move as much as we do, and buy and sell as many homes as we do. We bought a new heating/cooling system for our homes in VA, TX, and PA. The biggest blessing of all this is that we smelled the CO (I always thought it was odorless - but we definitely smelled something) and turned the heat off before anyone was seriously injured.

The professional immediately smelled the CO outside and disabled the unit. He told us we were lucky to be alive. We also learned that the heat exchanger was cracked and the unit had not been properly maintained. He played a game with the insurance company and told them he could repair it and clean it, but told me we needed a new unit. He came today to repair it and realized that it truly was beyond repair. Our second opinion said the same thing. So now we wait for American Home Shield to admit that we need a new unit and that our contract states that they should cover it. We are being as patient as we can, but are quickly tiring of the games and nonsense.

The very scary part is that Drew had been SO tired for 2 weeks and complaining about his chest and stomach hurting - I thought it was his asthma, but he is better now that the heat has been turned off. I always thought CO was the silent killer, odorless - but thankfully we were able to smell something and pinpointed it to the vents, turned the heat off, and called in a professional.

This looks like a bit more than a crack - I would call this a gaping hole. Hard to believe our CO detectors did not catch this... now we have one in everyone's bedroom.