Where I live, everyone has a second heating system.
During the winter, if you don’t have a second heating system, you will freeze to death before someone can get to your home and repair the furnace.
Winter starts in early September and last until late May or early June. Last winter, I had my heating system thoroughly inspected and cleaned, but that didn’t mean I would not have problems. My primary furnace broke during a blizzard. By the time I got home from work, it was so cold in the house that I called my sister and asked her to keep the kids until I could get the furnace repaired or the alternate heating system running. I wanted the house to be warm before my kids came in the house. My husband got home only five minutes after I did, and he went into the garage to get our secondary furnace running. Fortunately, it only took five minutes before we could feel the heat coming from the air vents. I was so grateful my husband had gotten home early that day. I wasn’t sure if I could have switched heating systems on my own. I called my sister and told her I would be over to pick the kids up in about fifteen minutes. We got our heating system running again, and a free dinner out of the deal. Now, all we need to do is wait for the HVAC technician to get out his snowmobile and get to our house once the blizzard ends. I can only hope it doesn’t take too long.