Not Your Father's Furnace

 Old Dog is correct, I was not boycotting the Institute, I was just tired of posting the same arguments over and over again.  I intended to resume posting when I found something that captured my interest, and now I have.

Modern furnaces are controlled by electronics.  They work well until they don't, and then it's time to call in the professionals.  These guys go through lots of training and are licensed to perform their work.  As I have been told, only one guy in the whole shop needs to be licensed, and everybody else can be an apprentice.  The shop I have been dealing with for 20 years apparently lost it's licensed guy and they can't find another one.  They can still sell parts, but they can't do any repairs of installations.  The other shops in the area now have jobs booked for several weeks and are not accepting new customers until they get caught up.  One of them put me on a waiting list, another one doesn't keep lists but told me to try again "later".  A couple of them won't even return my calls.  I have been told that they would like to hire more help, but they can't find anybody.  Our retail stores and restaurants have been having this problem for at least a year before the COVID hit the fan, and now it seems to have spread into the skilled trades.  I would be happy to buy a new furnace if it turns out to be necessary, but I am neither physically nor mentally qualified to install it.

Coal furnaces can burn wood, but wood furnaces cannot burn coal because coal generally burns hotter than wood.  The wood furnace we have is no longer in production.  When a guy replaced the blower last year, he had to send all the way to Kentucky for it.  The store that used to sell my wood furnace has replaced it with one that is rated for coal.  I don't need a new wood furnace but, if I ever do, they are the only people I know of who still sell models like mine, the kind that blows into the existing ductwork of your central heating system.  

The truck is fine.  It took some getting used to because of all the electronics in it.  I don't know why anybody needs all that crap, but that's all they sell nowadays.  Motor vehicles haven't had carburetors for a long time, having replaced them with something called "fuel injection".  Small engines like chain saws and lawn mowers still have carburetors, and you have to buy special gas for them because the ethanol they put in regular gas these days dissolves the membranes in carburetors.