We had to use the fireplace.
I never did get to work on the furnace, since I was busy trying to not suffocate us while keeping us warm with the fireplace
Sometimes things go wrong that aren’t under your control. Other times things go wrong when you are trying to take control, and never should have tried. I have done this several times. My latest blunder was when I tried to fix the furnace. My wife was freezing, my son was complaining, and they were upset that the HVAC technician was there yet. It had only been an hour since I called for furnace service. They said it would take about two hours, so I couldn’t figure out why they were upset. I promised my wife that if they weren’t there within two hours, I was going to see if I couldn’t fix the furnace. In the meantime, I headed out to the shed to bring up a couple wheelbarrow full of wood. I was going to get the fireplace working to keep us warm. I laid the kindling and the logs on the hearth and I lit the paper underneath. I could see the flame and then I felt the smoke. I hadn’t changed the flue to let the smoke out. I must have put the damper in every position possible, but I still had smoke coming into the house. Now we had the fans going on a cold night, and the air vents in both bathrooms, hoping to pull the smoke out of the house. I never did get to work on the furnace, since I was busy trying to not suffocate us while keeping us warm with the fireplace. When the HVAC tech finally arrived, I had the fireplace working properly and my wife and son weren’t complaining any longer.