(12/7/98)

Questar Gas is beginning its busy season. As the temperatures drop, people put more demands on their furnaces. News Specialist Pamela Davis shows us why it's important to know where to turn if your furnace breaks down.

An 87-year-old man explains, "Around 8:00, I noticed it was getting cold." The man lives alone, and asked us not to use his name. Friday night, a cold night, he had some furnace trouble. "So then I went downstairs and I checked the furnace, and the pilot light was out," he says.

He called the gas company, and they told him the soonest they could come and fix it would be Sunday. "I says, 'What do you mean? You mean to say I got to stay without heat for three days?'"

It's something to consider as the weather gets colder. Is the gas company always the best place to call if your furnace stops working?

Darren Shepherd, of Questar, says, "We're not the ones that are the only option." He says Questar is happy to re-light a pilot light, but unless it's an emergency, it could take a few days during the busy winter season. "If the customer feels like, 'Geez, that's too long, I can't wait that long,' well they have other options, to call a contractor," Shepherd explains.

tractors and other professionals may be able to respond more quickly if your furnace goes out after-hours or on the weekend.