A few months ago, while staying with my brother, his furnace broke down in the middle of the night.
It wouldn’t have been so bad except it was one of the coldest nights of the season.
The temperature outside had dropped to a chilling 15 degrees. So, we needed the furnace to stay warm. When we woke up that morning his house was beyond freezing, and no matter how much clothes I had on, I was still cold. Thankfully, he had a space heater in his garage that we were able to use. However, this heater was an older model, which means it didn’t have the safeguards that the newer space heaters have. For instance, the newer space heaters have tip-over switches where the units will turn off when they are not upright. They also come equipped with automatic shut off switches in case the unit overheats. Finally, the new space heaters have thermostats that can monitor the temperature inside the home and adjust itself accordingly. Because my brother’s space heater had none of these features, I was a bit worried about having it close to anything. These are the heaters that are responsible for so many fires. People tend to leave them unattended which has led to major disasters. My brother wanted me to use the heater in the guest room, but I told him I wasn’t comfortable with doing that. So, we went out to a local hardware store to purchase a newer space heater, one that had all the safety features. I used the heater for the next two days while we were waiting for the furnace to get fixed. I advised my brother to throw away the old space heater because the risk of using it is not worth it.