Uncooked rice often contains the bacteria Bacillus cereus. These bacteria can form protective spores that survive the cooking process and if the rice is cooled slowly (and left between 5 Â°C and 60 Â°C for a long time), these bacteria spores can germinate, grow and produce a toxin (poison) that causes vomiting.
Obviously the colder a climate is, the more a furnace is required to run, and the shorter its life expectancy. With our relatively mild climate here in Seattle and the rest of the Puget Sound, the average life expectancy for a gas furnace is 15 to 20 years if well maintained, properly installed, and properly sized.
If your furnace were old and worn out, your decision would be easyâbuy a more efficient modelâbut the average life of a well-maintained furnace is 25 years, so yours still has plenty of life in it. If you did replace your furnace with a 97 percent efficient system, you'd cut your heating bills around 20 percent. To see if it's worth spending the money, add up the fuel bills for last winterâyour gas utility will have recordsâthen multiply that sum by 20 percent.