My father consistently told me anytime that you are working around fuel, you should never be smoking a cigarette, pipe, or cigar.
- He said it was nothing except a recipe for disaster.
I remembered this all my life, and whenever I was working on a car, I made sure to not let anyone smoke in the garage. I thought that everyone had this mentality. You didn’t smoke around anything that was flammable, and that included Heating and Air Conditioning units. I never thought I would have an opportunity to tell a professional Heating and Air Conditioning business this, but it turns out that I do. I was upstairs working while the Heating and Air Conditioning business was working on my oil furnace. I thought I heard an odd noise, but I didn’t give it a second thought at all until I started smelling smoke. Then, I began to panic. I ran to the door and went into the basement. The Heating and Air Conditioning tech was stomping out some papers and he looked a bit wide-eyed. He apologized and said he had already called his Heating and Air Conditioning business for assistance. He had been smoking close to the furnace. By some freak accident, the ashes got into the oil furnace, and the wiring caught fire. He promised that if the oil furnace wasn’t able to be fixed, the Heating and Air Conditioning business would purchase a brand new oil furnace for me. I was wondering if I should call my homeowners insurance, just in case they reneged on this promise. They could fight the Heating and Air Conditioning business for me if needed. I figured I may as well wait for the owner of the Heating and Air Conditioning business to show up, and talk to me about my oil furnace.