Catastrophe Avoided

Late edit:  The sensing device works a little differently than I thought, so I corrected that description.

I often check my Michigan neighbors' webcam in the morning. Yesterday morning the sun was out, and it was a toasty 7 degrees, according to my trusty weather websites. Then we got the phone call from these same neighbors, declaring that our day was about to take a nasty turn. Indeed. The two year old furnace in our house had ceased to function. And I believe I mentioned that the outdoor temperature was 7?  The interior of the house was, at that point, 44 degrees.

My mention of the webcam was deliberate -- this is a fairly tech savvy neighbor, who has a fondness for electronic devices, not limited to webcams. He uses some of these to monitor various household systems, both at their home and at a family cottage in another state. These devices make a phone call to give a warning when certain pre-set limits are reached -- such as hot and cold temperatures. Oddly -- but fortunately for us -- he got a new, fancier one for himself, and decided that it would save them some trips across the street in the cold weather if they set the old one up in our house during these polar vortex events that keep happening.  We were fine with this, and a week or so ago he installed the temperature sensor and plugged it into a phone jack in our family room.  We weren't convinced that it was at all necessary -- like I said, the furnace is only 2 years old.  But these are good neighbors, old friends, who have been checking on the house pretty regularly, and it provided some extra insurance.  That we were certain we didn't really need.  Given the temperatures inside and out, I'm not sure how far we were from frozen pipes, but the sensor did its job, he got his phone message and we got the phone call mentioned at the start of this post.  By noon the furnace repair guy was there and replaced -- wait for it -- a sensor -- on the furnace.  At last check the house was warm.  Catastrophe avoided.