(Worst part is that I had scheduled someone to come check it Friday morning, since I don't know when the previous owners had any maintenance done. It couldn't hold on another 48 hours?)

(I have a tiny electric heater, but it's in an unknown box somewhere in the garage. Even if I wanted to go looking for it, I couldn't, because the rest of my shift has already called out)

OH NO

There should be emergency heating services. I'm looking up locals.

I have called four companies (including the one that was scheduled to do maintenance Friday). One of them was able to send a guy out tonight. His name is Keith and he is currently in my basement.

Good.

He did also suggest turning on the oven and keeping it cracked open. (This is the kind of thing that my previous landlord sent lots of emails telling us not to do.)

Apparently the igniter is rusted to hell. He's going back to the shop to see if he's got one.

I neglected my document intake vigil longer enough to dig through the garage. Electric heater was in the fourth box I checked!

(Two pairs of gloves and my fingers still hurt from being out there)

Keith was not able to find an igniter at his workshop, which means waiting until morning (or spending an extra $150 to get one now). With the electric heater, I can make it until business hours.

Also, the temperature stopped falling around the time I called company 3, so it seems to be staying solidly in the low 60s. Which isn't fun (I am not a well-insulated human being) but is much less worrying than the trend of "losing two degrees an hour" the thermostat showed at first

So here I am. Wearing snow pants, sitting directly above the electric heater, making tea, and carefully not thinking about how much technicans cost on overtime...

I have checked and the igniter was not something the home inspector was supposed to check before closing. (The inspector apparently missed some "interesting" plumbing issues, which WAS an oversight, but the inner workings of the heater were beyond his purview)

After the number of items that Keith helpfully moved away from the oven "so they won't catch on fire," I have opted not to use the oven as a secondary heating source

valid

With the electric heater, the situation seems to have stabilized at 63 degrees. This appears to be an interesting feline cutoff point - at 62 degrees, Aster will accept being tucked under a blanket. At 63 degrees, he will not.

Quinn agrees that using the oven for extra heat would've been a Really Bad Idea.

If the temperature drops further and I get tempted, I will keep that in mind

60 degrees. Waiting for Keith to call me back with that igniter now that it's business hours. In the meantime...

58 degrees. Keith is having difficulty finding an igniter but he'll call me if he has any luck

He might have found someone with the part. (I cannot check the temperature for this update because I am under a cat)

(I took that picture and then he moved. 57 degrees)

The igniter is currently in Detroit Lakes? And might get here? Sometime after 1 pm???

I have been told I should probably move the electric heater down to the basement because that's where the water lines are

HE FOUND A PART IN TOWN

He is going to finish his lunch, go get it, and then bring it over

(Also, I'm pretty sure that my mom already has an account with this repair company, because he keeps calling me "Deone".)

HEAT IS BACK

WOOOOOOOOOOOOO

SLEEP THE SLEEP OF THE HEATED

🙌

Heater maintenance has also confirmed there's nothing ELSE wrong with the boiler. The spark igniter is the big point of failure, apparently they've got a couple-year lifespan around here. (I now have a model number and the knowledge that they cost 12 bucks online, so I can get a SPARE)