Feels like I hit the Jackpot

Yesterday afternoon I started on a little project that was a carryover from last fall. The backstory is that last fall while I was camping at my property in the UP of Michigan, the furnace quit on me. It didn’t just quit, it woke me up at 4 am making a clatter that sounded like playing cards in bicycle spokes…only 10 times louder. With limited tools I got the outside panel off and found that the fan would barely move. So, I toughed it out until we came home and put the 5er into storage for the winter. I pulled it out last weekend and decided to check the situation a little closer with tools being at my disposal. Much to my surprise when I removed the outside panel, I could easily spin the fan. Of course I couldn’t hardly see into the fan or reach my fingers in there, but something felt odd. I shined a Mag Light into the fan and spun it from the other side, and mercy, I found the problem. A mouse had gotten into the fan and caused it to lock up. So, having deteriorated and shrunk in size over the winter, the fan turned freely now. A few minutes with long needle nosed pliers got it out, and now the furnace works perfectly again. So I felt like I hit the Jackpot by avoiding what could have been a pain in the butt repair.