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My own polar vortex

I never thought 14 C could feel cold – until I spent the first weekend of February without heat in my apartment. Several weeks ago, the thermostat stopped displaying in the apartment where I live with my girlfriend.

I never thought 14 C could feel cold – until I spent the first weekend of February without heat in my apartment. Several weeks ago, the thermostat stopped displaying in the apartment where I live with my girlfriend. We didn’t do anything about it then, as it had been a mild winter thus far and the temperature was fine as it was. But then, the polar vortex took hold, and we found ourselves living in what felt like an icebox for three days. By the time we’d put new batteries in our thermostat Feb. 2, the display was reading at 62 F, or about 17 C. We tried to increase the temperature to 73 F, but while the thermostat said the heat was on, the apartment definitely wasn’t getting warmer. We emailed our building’s property management company about the issue, but unfortunately, no one responded – it was Saturday morning – and we ended up going the whole weekend without heat in our apartment. Meanwhile, the temperature outside plummeted to the -30s. Walking into our apartment was like stepping into the back room at the liquor store where the beer is kept cold, or returning to a room-temperature hallway after finishing a hot yoga session. Since we don’t have a space heater, we got through the ordeal by wrapping ourselves in blankets, drinking endless cups of tea and hot chocolate and microwaving “Magic Bags” every hour, which we would squeeze between our legs or wrap around our necks. My girlfriend and I weren’t home much during the day, but trying to sleep was brutal. We used four blankets and each wore multiple layers of sweaters and sweatpants to bed. The worst was the night of Feb. 3, when the thermostat was reading at 58 F (14 C). After hardly getting any sleep, we agreed Monday morning that if the issue wasn’t resolved that day, we’d have to spend the night somewhere else. Fortunately, I was able to reach a representative from the property management company (who was appalled we hadn’t had any heat) and he arranged for a plumber to come take a look. The plumber quickly determined the pipes for the baseboard heaters were frozen and the valves were stuck, preventing hot water from flowing through. All it took was thawing out the pipes with a hair dryer for 10 to 15 minutes, then cranking the thermostat for the rest of the day. While allowing this situation to escalate was embarrassing on my part, I’m glad we resolved it before a disaster situation occurred, such as a burst pipe. I’ll know next time to be less lazy when the thermostat conks out.

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