Area Man Refuses To Turn On Heat Before November 1, Family Can Now See Their Breath In Kitchen

DULUTH, MN — Local father of three Gary Pruszynski, 51, confirmed Sunday that the furnace in his family's split-level home will stay off until November 1, a date he described as "the rule," even though the indoor temperature fell to 49 degrees overnight and frost has started forming on the inside of the bathroom mirror.

"Heat is a November thing. Everybody knows that," said Pruszynski, standing next to the thermostat in a fleece vest worn over a second fleece vest. "My father didn't turn it on until November, and his father didn't turn it on until November. That's how you get a family that's tough. You put on a sweater."

According to family members, Pruszynski has not been able to say where the November 1 date came from, why it is November 1 and not October 15, or what happens if the house goes below freezing before then. Asked whether it was tied to a heating bill, a utility rate change, or anything at all, he said, "It's the rule," and walked away to check that nobody had touched the dial.

"I put my hand near the vent last night and he heard it from the garage," said his wife, Denise Pruszynski, 49, who has started keeping her coffee mug inside her coat. "He came in holding a flashlight and asked me what I thought I was doing. I said 'living.' He said that's what blankets are for."

The household has since adapted. The couple's 14-year-old son now does homework in a sleeping bag rated to 20 below. Their 9-year-old daughter told reporters she has named the visible cloud of her breath "Steve" and talks to it at breakfast. The family dog has moved permanently into the dryer.

A 2026 survey by the Upper Midwest Institute for Domestic Behavior found that 71 percent of men over 45 hold a strong personal date for turning on the heat, and that none of them could explain it. The same study found that the date usually lands two to three weeks after the rest of the household first asks.

"What we're seeing is not about money," said lead researcher Dr. Ellen Varga, who confirmed her team tried and failed to get a single subject to name an actual savings figure. "One man in our sample was heating his garage workshop to 72 degrees for his model trains while his wife slept in a ski helmet. When we pointed that out, he told us the trains 'have a lot of moving parts.'"

Neighbors say the standoff has become a fixture on the block. "You can see the frost on their windows from the street. Inside," said next-door neighbor Ron Delacroix, 63, who admitted he runs a similar policy but uses October 20, "because I'm not a maniac."

At press time, Pruszynski had announced that the November 1 date would be pushed back to November 8 to account for "a warm week we had in September."