TOLEDO, Ohio — A south Toledo's woman furnace was broken and her house at Canyon Cove Villas and Townhomes remained cold for 14 days.
Normally she loves her work-from-home job. But she had to take extra measures to stay warm during the winter cold.
"Layering, blankets, heating blankets," said the woman, who asked to remain anonymous. "My electric bill is going to be outrageous."
She's hiding her identity because she moved to Canyon Cove to escape a domestic violence situation. But she said the problem was so frustrating that she was willing to share her voice to get action.
WTOL 11 reached out to Canyon Cove management, who said someone would fix the furnace on Wednesday. Later the same day, the woman, who waited anxiously for her heat to get fixed, told us that her furnace was working again.
But for two weeks, being at home turned into an exercise in staying warm. The first thing she showed WTOL 11 at her townhome was the thermostat, which did not affect the furnace.
"It should kick on, like you should hear it now," she said as she cranked up the settings on the device, but nothing was heard.
The thermostat read that it was 64 degrees inside on Wednesday, but it was also the warmest day in weeks. She said when the temps would drop down into the negatives outside, her townhome would turn into a fridge.
"At one point my thermostat read 47 degrees," she said.
She said the moment it stopped working, she tried reaching out to Canyon Cove's corporate office, but she said it took days to get a response.
"They told me calling more wouldn't make them come any faster," she said. "Finally, on Sunday, when a maintenance man came, was to drop off two little space heaters, one of which I keep in my kitchen to keep my pipes from freezing."
More handymen had come and gone since then to check on the furnace. But there was no fix and from Jan. 10 until then, the woman said she hit a breaking point.
"I'm honestly considering seeking legal consultation to see if this is grounds to legally break my lease," she said.
MORE FROM WTOL 11: