Oh MAN!! My Furnace could have caught on FIRE!

United States
November 2, 2007 9:49am CST
Last night I heard this wierd noise coming from the basement. It was a eeeerrrrr sound. It would do this every half hour or so. I didnt know what it was and forgot about it by the time my husband got home. Well this morning the house was cold. I told him I turned on the furnace last night and I remembered about the noise. Well he went down to see what was up. Here the filter thing was wrapped around the blower motor!! The noise was the furnace trying to start but couldnt because of the filter. If it would have been closer to the flame it would have cauget fire and the whole house would have went up!! Im glad it didnt and Im glad we got it fixed. Now I have to go buy a new filter which is better than replacing my Whole House! Have you ever had a close call like this??
2 people like this
8 responses
@shuz697 (1043)
• United States
2 Nov 07
Wow that is scary... Its such a scary feeling when you realise how close you were to losing everything.. I have had a close call once I was cooking pasta and rice for my dog and I had to rush out to pick up my husband from work so I turned everything off drained and cooled my pasta then put it back on the stove top with a tea towel over the pasta in the saucepan checked everything wasn't hot and left. We came home about 15 minutes later to find half of the tea towel ON FIRE!!! it must have just caught fire as we were walking in the door.. I ran in, grab the saucepan handle and threw it in the sink.. IT WAS SOOOO SCARY !!! if we had been any later the entire house would have gone up in smoke and it would have been all my fault.. :( .. I didnt turn the stove completly off that's why it happened and the corner on the tea towel was resting on a tiny bit of the hot plate.. I learnt my lesson after that one..
3 people like this
• United States
2 Nov 07
Thats very scary!! Im glad you caught it before it got out of control! I had something like that happen when I was younger. I was home watching my bother while my parents went to get groceries. I was making mac and cheese for him. I left the stove for a moment to help mom carry in bags and when I got back to the kitchen the pot holder was on fire! I thrwe it in the sink and wet it down!! My mom, dad, and vrother laughed at me. They said I saw it was on fire but went to the other side of the stove to make sure it as on fire! LOL, I guess I didnt think it really was. Fire is so scary!
1 person likes this
@webeishere (36313)
• United States
3 Nov 07
Now that I think about it this summer I had cooked a pan of homemade bread pudding. I forgot I was cooking then left to go to an A.A. meeting after about 10 minutes of putting it in the over. I returned a few hours later to a very very hot smoke filled house. Whew!! All I lost was a cake pan and a pan of bread pudding. The house smelled for like 3 weeks afterwards. Phewwww! HAPPY POSTINGS FROM GRANDPA BOB !!~
1 person likes this
• United States
2 Nov 07
I have one closer than that. My great-great grandmother, who I lived with most of my childhood, had an antique gas stove which at the time she still used. I was getting my hair straightened one evening, by my grandmother, which meant I had to sit in the kitchen with my back to the stove, which she used one of the eyes to heat up the hot comb. the stove was good, but you had to light up the oven part if you wanted to use it. Well, my little brother, who was about 4 at the time, wanted to use the stove too. While my grandmother wasn't paying attention, he pushed a chair up to the stove, turned on all the eyes, and the oven as well. My grandmother continued to straighten my hair, and I watched tv. All of a sudden the stove went crazy! It exploded, thankfully contained within the oven, five times, making a loud boom as the oven door came open and slammed shut. I bolted out of the kitchen, through the pantry, falling to my knees, and into the dining room. My grandmother, cool head that she had, quickly turned off all the eyes and the oven. My poor brother was still petrified atop the chair in front of the stove. Luckily the gas hadn't filled the room before it exploded, or the whole house could have blown up!
• United States
2 Nov 07
Holy He#L!! That must have been terrifing!! LOL. I can see your little crother standing there in aww at what just happened. Poor little guy! I bet he never played with it again.
1 person likes this
• United States
3 Nov 07
lmao!!!!
• United States
2 Nov 07
Play with it? He didn't go near it until he was 6 lmao!!!
1 person likes this
@webeishere (36313)
• United States
3 Nov 07
Whew! Close call there. Thankfully for the odd noises we hear when things like this occur. I've never had anything close like this with an appliance of any sort thankfully. HAPPY POSTINGS FROM GRANDPA BOB !!~
1 person likes this
• Canada
2 Nov 07
Hi copperkitten, YIKES! That mus have been scary, and indeed was a close call. I haven't really had anything like a house almost catching on fire happen to me, I have been pretty lucky! Have a good weekend! Luv & Hugzz, PurpleTeddyBear.
2 people like this
• United States
2 Nov 07
Mine was sending two foot flames out of it last year.I had to get the fire dept over in the middle of night and they had to shut it off till the Utility people got there.
• United States
2 Nov 07
WOW! Im glad someone was there to call the fire department.
1 person likes this
@lilybug (21107)
• United States
2 Nov 07
An apartment I had moved into once has a similar problem. My brother came over and checked it out for me. There was not one, not tow, or three, but FOUR filters shoved into the furnace. I guess that was the last tenants way of telling the landlord to kiss their @ss. I am glad you got it taken care of before something bad happened.
2 people like this
• United States
2 Nov 07
WOW 4 Filters!! What the heck were they thinking? Im gald your place didnt light on fire!!
1 person likes this
@Thoroughrob (11742)
• United States
2 Nov 07
Wow, that was close. Glad it was an easy fix. We had an old exhaust fan here when we were renting. It never worked and one night I woke up and smelled burning wood. I went to the kitchen and looked out the window, the exhaust fan was right above the window. I could see a little smoke outside, but not sure where it was coming from. I opened the basement door and my basement was full of smoke. The exhaust fan had shorted out and the insulation and rafters were just sitting there smoldering. We had to have the fire department back 3 times and the 3rd time, they finally gutted the kitchen ceiling. It was still smoldering 8 ft. away from the fan. They are guessing it had been smoldering for about 2 weeks. The smoke went down the wall and in the basement and we had a drop ceiling and it stayed on top of it. In fact, the drop ceiling was smoldering on the other side. It is scary when you think what might have happened. Glad everything is good on your end.
1 person likes this
@blueunicorn (2401)
• United States
2 Nov 07
Wow, that sounds scarey. I'm glad everything worked out for you okay! I have had a close call- just this summer. Our air conditioner line backed up and overflowed the pan that is supposed to catch the water. One morning I was sitting at my computer and my 4 year old comes in to tell me there is water leaking through the ceiling. Sure enough, she was right. I knew it was the air conditioner, so I wasn't overly concerned- just frustrated that we had to get these repairs done now. The stupid home warranty company said they couldn't get someone out until 4 days later, and that was after waiting for 4 hours for them to call me back! In the meantime my ceiling started to bow a little bit. Then the water started dripping through all the fixtures on the ceiling and through the smoke detector that was up there. When the smoke detector started making all sorts of strange noises I got really freaked out. I called my husband (I don't know why I thought he was going to be able to do anything from work), and he called the fire department to ask if this is a serious hazard of a fire starting or if I could wait in the house for the repair person (I wound up calling someone else other than the home warranty company so we could get the repairs done that day). A few minutes after my husband called the fire department I heard a fire truck, and four firefighters came to my door, climbed up in the attic and told me there was water everywhere. Oh, it was crazy! It cost $1,500 to have the attic and ceiling dried out, but fortunately we caught the water problem before the ceiling lost any structural integrety. Not nearly as bad or scary as your furnace, but it was a close call I would not like to experience again!
1 person likes this