For the Love of Hot Wheels

My boys love hot wheels.  It's a car thing and a boy thing I think.  A few years ago we inherited a gigantic collection of hot wheels track.  They love to make long runs that cross the whole house.  Well, since moving to our new house, there is a vent in the basement and it looks like it could connect to the vent in the dining room upstairs and I know that my children have been eyeing this as a possible car run for awhile.

Well the other day my  boys decided that it was time to test the duct-work in our house.  While I was making breakfast they connected more than six feet of track and started putting it down the vent.  I thought they were just playing their normal play, little did I know.  When I start smelling burning plastic and running through the house wondering what has been left on one of the furnace vents, I enter the dining room to see my children desperately trying to use a grabber(you know the kind to pick up trash) to get something out of the vent.

You can imagine the scene from there.  I'm freaking out, the kids are desperate.  We turn off the furnace, and I try to figure out what they have done.  We use the shop vac to try to get the track out, to no avail.  Apparently, they had put the track in until it stopped and then when they started pulling it back out, part of it got left behind.  I cancel our plans, afraid we might not have a house to come home to if we leave things unattended.  Thankfully my friend's older son was home and he came and helped me get the duct apart in the basement.  We pull out at least 4 feet of track, but lo and behold, there are still some pieces IN the furnace, one of which has melted to the side of the heat exchange.

What my furnace looks like. The round duct at the
top is where the track had gone in.

A view from the hole into my furnace.

I called around to get some estimates and advice from HVAC professionals.  It would cost at least $75 just for someone to come check it out.  My handy husband was pretty sure he could do it himself while I was thinking we might need to buy a new furnace.  I laid down the law with my children.  See, I love their thinking and innovation about the whole event, but there are some elemental problems.  We were supposed to be leaving the house, and the children were not only not dressed or ready, but then they caused trouble.  They disregarded the law of NOT putting things in the vents, EVER! So it was a boring day of just chores from there on out.

A close up of the melted piece once my hubby got
the cover off the furnace.

But then my AMAZING husband came home and was able to take apart the furnace, get off the burnt plastic, and had it running again by dinner. AMAZING!  Apparently, he has always wanted to work on a furnace, and this was a good opportunity to try it. :)

The melted remains.

So that is a day in the life of a household of boys who love hot wheels.