We have two beautiful sons who have consistently been honestly curious boys. They’ve consistently loved playing hide & seek, & looking for hidden objects. It’s consistently been a challenge to find hiding places for their birthday & Christmas presents, when they were toddlers, we could place them on the highest shelves of closets & cupboards, and but as they got older, we had to find other locations. They definitely found our hiding spots under beds & in dresser drawers. So we turned to hiding presents in mislabeled boxes in the garage, under a pile of dirty laundry, inside suitcases, & finally – in a neighbor’s garage, then each of these locations was somewhat successful – until they caught on to them! But we learned that presents should never be hid around the boiler, thanks to our Heating, Ventilation & A/C serviceman who had come to repair the boiler one afternoon, and he told us several reasons why this is never a nice idea, for one thing, there shouldn’t be clutter around the boiler, as Heating, Ventilation & A/C systems require clearances & ventilation for efficient heating & cooling. Blocking the airflow shortens equipment life, & it’s advocated that there be at least two feet of space around the heating & cooling unit. Also, presents that are placed near a boiler are absolutely a fire hazard. Naturally there is a particular amount of heat emitted from the boiler, & most wrapping paper is highly flammable. And with a gas-ignited boiler such as we have, there is absolutely a spark & flame that ignites the pilot light or burners, changing the risk of a fire catching on the wrapping paper. Now that our sons are older, we no longer need to hide their presents because all that they want are gift certificates!
