No, wait... yep that's right, get out the house! Don't judge me - just read.
This weekend the air conditioner starting sounding funny, the blower stayed on, the temperature in the house started rising, and I started to sweat. It seemed obvious at this point that I was having a situation. As a bead of sweat rolled down my back side, I took a brief moment to consider my options before heading down stairs - why would I want to be upstairs with no A/C - pay attention, man.
My options, in the order they came to me:
- Call a professional
Couldn't bring myself to do it. Next! - Try to fix it myself.
I thought, "Self, I'm no dolt. My air conditioner is not smarter than me. I'll find out what's wrong and fix it myself, if I can. I'll save us a lot of time and money and several warm nights." (It was really hot with the A/C being busted and all - are you getting any of this?)
This option was definitely looking good on paper - I was picturing my wife going on about how much she loves me while putting a medal around my neck as I triumphantly entered our comfortably cool living room from the garage. So that's what I resolved to do. Here's how it played out in reality:
I looked at the thermostat - all computerized. I looked at the outside unit - yup, definitely making funny noises. Now, you'll be glad to know I'm a pretty handy guy, but I wouldn't know how to service the outside unit if the instructions were written on the side of unit (which they were) with a step-by-step video of what to do. (Even if I did know what to do, I don't know what made me think I would have the specialized tools to work on it.) So I went to the garage and took the cover off of the furnace instead. There it was. I was starring at the insides of the furnace all right. Yep, that's exactly what it was.
I was still sweating - not because of the A/C, but because it was 90 degrees out... you thought I was gonna say something about the A/C.
Stupid air conditioner... - Call a professional.
Hmmm, what else... I could feel the dollars melting out of my pocket. - Take a cold shower.
Not a long term solution, but I was getting hot trying to figure out what to do. But the showers were upstairs and there's no way I was going back up to that sauna without a plan. What about the garden hose! Arghh. I forgot, no one wants to see me like that in public... yeah, I won't even mention that one. - Call a family friend who works on A/C for a living.
Heck, he is a professional! You should always go with your first instinct (see #1).
No answer. He was out of town. I left a voice mail.
Weird... does that mean that if you're only blowing hot air your friends probably won't help you out? OH MAN!! HAAAAA! Seriously though - enough joking around. I was melting. - Open the windows and do nothing.
We could save a bunch on our electric bill this month. Awesome! There's always a silver lining. At least there was a breeze after I opened the windows... and the house's got to get cooler at night...
Who was I kidding? It didn't get cooler at night! This stunk! So we... - Got the heck out of Dodge!
After a night of sleeping upstairs with no A/C (we refused to go downstairs just to make a point to the A/C about who was in charge) and laying in a pool of sweat while a fan blew more hot air over us (it was like being basted in your own juices in a convection oven) I'm sure you'll agree. We went to the in-law's house and swam in the pool. Sweet, sweet, relief. It sounded like someone dropped a hot-dog fried in bacon grease into a bucket of ice water when I got in.
The moral to the story is: preventative maintenance is where it's at!
1 comment:
If you found $20, you must have rewards checking at FORUM. Seriously, it is just like finding $20.
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