Electric baseboard heater on fire, speedy lesson in how to use a fire extinguisher
Once again, I learned why I should always listen to my dog
I stared at the electric baseboard heaters when I did a walk-through with my Realtor. I didn’t understand the point of them. I could clearly see wall baseboard heaters already inside of the condominium unit, and I wondered why the prior owner installed more. It didn’t take long for me to figure it out.
Within a couple of days after closing on my purchase and moving in, I was headed outside to run an errand. A tenant walked by, complaining about how he’d put down an offer to buy my unit but I apparently beat him to it.
“You’re going to be cold in there,” he said snippily, and then he walked away.
Whatever happened to fruit baskets and welcome letters? Some way to welcome me to the neighborhood. I shook my head and went about unpacking from my eighth move (third if you don’t count two out-of-state universities and an off-campus apartment).
Every blue moon, I’d look at those electric base heaters again, wondering just how cold it really is in this condo during the winter months. As only my luck would have it, the first winter in my condo was the dreadful polar vortex. My living room felt like the icebox where Omarion’s heart used to be—even with the baseboard heaters on. Now I know exactly why the prior owners installed electric baseboard heaters. But that electricity bill going from $25 to almost $100 with the electric version made me abandon my living room altogether during the winter season. My bedroom wall baseboard heaters were always much warmer anyway.
It took me four years to realize why I should’ve had the electric baseboard heaters yanked out of both walls before I even unpacked one box. I learned that hard lesson this morning, with a fire extinguisher in one hand and a smartphone in another, while I waited for the fire department to arrive.