The joys of home ownership: the f***ing a/c went out last night!!!

[NewWaveChick1981]

:mad: We had a new a/c system installed in Sept. 2002. It's a Lennox, so fortunately it has a good warranty. We're waiting for the repair guy to get here, but hubby is 99% sure it's the compressor. I went out for my nightly fitness walk about 7 PM, and when I got back at 7:45, the house felt like an oven. We checked everything, and unless it's a coolant leak, it's the freakin' compressor. At least the parts will be covered by the warranty, but we still have to pay for the service call and labor. :grr: I got practically no sleep last night because 1) it was hot, 2) hubby kept getting up every hour because he couldn't sleep, and 3) one of our dogs freaks out when we turn on the ceiling fan, and she just laid at my feet and trembled.

Gee, I'm having a lovely day so far.... :P

[Wcross]

1. Ain't it great?

You would still be without air if you rented. At least the unit is under warranty! My well pump went out on me a couple of months ago. Of course it had to happen on a thursday night when I had to work the following three days. I had to shower with cold gallon jugs of water bought at the store. For the three days I worked. I had to hand pull the pump and waterline up 120' from the well. (The water in the line made it extremely difficult) After that it was a piece of cake.
No matter what happens I would never go back to renting!

[NewWaveChick1981]

4. Yeah, it's a bitch, but...

..you're right---I would not go back to renting now! :) We've owned our home for eight years after renting for a long time. We don't have upstairs or downstairs neighbors, we have no parking problems, and our dogs have a great fenced-in back yard to run around. I suppose an a/c inconvenience is minor in comparison!

The repairman left about an hour ago, and it wasn't as bad as we thought. The part was under warranty, and the total labor cost was $117. It could have been much worse!

Ahhh, coolness again... :D

[Broken_Hero]

17. No doubt about the well going out...

we have had our well go out on us once, the past two years. The first tiem was in in may of 04, second time was in...well, may of 05...i guess the shitty parts they put in only last a year...:) But it hasn't broke down this year yet. After dealing with no water for a few days, man you appreciate the invention of indoor plumbing pretty damn quick...:)

Our house didn't have ac to beging with, but we got a few window units, but i would rather have no ac, than no water....btw, i have been a home owner for over two years now...and I wouldn't want to ever go back to renting again.

[NewWaveChick1981]

22. Yeah, you gotta have water...

...no matter what. AC makes it comfortable, but it's not 100% necessary. I hope the well situation has straightened itself out. :)

[Broken_Hero]

25. It has

well guy said our...transfer box, got blew out by lightning storms, and the piece looks easy enough to replace, so if it goes out again, i'm going to risk replacing it myself...cause both times it was the same box. It comes undone, goes in place a lot like a huge lego piece...piece costs 60 bucks, the labor cost me 100....but im' new to the well thing.....

My hometown gets about 200 inches of rain a year, and i'm not use to dealing with wells...back home, our wells are above ground, in huge recipticles...or you are on city water...

[dysfunctional press]

2. we don't have A/C...

we do nicely with a couple of window fans, and lake breezes.

i can't stand going into people's houses who keep them as cold as a refrigerator all summer long.

[NewWaveChick1981]

5. I know what you mean.

We have ours on for comfort, but it's not a refrigerator (unless you count the basement, which is below ground level and stays cooler than the upstairs). :)

[Midlodemocrat]

14. LOL. You would hate my house, then.

I keep my office like a meat locker.

[azmouse]

3. I can sympathize.

A coil went out on a heatpump for my house a few weeks ago. It supplies us with AC in the summer and heat in the winter. But the coil went bad and leaked out the freon so no cold air. It cost $1200 to fix! But in AZ we can't do without the AC so we spent the money. The unit is only 5 yrs old and we have had nothing but problems with it.

But like the previous poster said I'll take the problems of home ownership over renting any day!! :)

[NewWaveChick1981]

6. Totally agree!

Repairs are a pain in the butt, but they're preferable to renting. Fortunately, it wasn't as bad as it could have been, so we were lucky! :)

[LynneSin]

7. Don't you have an AC for non-f***ing?

:shrug:

And I'm curious just what the heck are you doing that you require an AC just for f***ing?

Anyhow - hope it all works out well!

[NewWaveChick1981]

8. We didn't plan for AC for non-f***ing...

:blush: We'll know better next time. We only thought the AC was for f***ing. I guess we were just too darned optimistic. :P We'll stop being so bad...

[Smooth Operator]

9. jeeez

we had the heat on last night. We're still using our down comforter. Got down to 39 degrees. I don't envy your lack of AC

[WolverineDG]

10. Try doing without AC for a week & a half

in South Texas, with temps reaching over 100F each day. Now there's some REAL fun. ;)

dg

[NewWaveChick1981]

11. I'll bet!

Back in my dorm days, it would be sweltering with no a/c. It was impossible to sleep when the temps were in the high 90s and high humidity. :grr: Lots of us would stay up late watching TV in the lounge because no one could sleep in the heat.

[Aiptasia]

12. I feel ya on that one

My senior year of college, I had to spend all summer in an upstairs apartment with no air conditioning in South Carolina during a record heatwave. I was working on a summer practicum class so I had to suffer. 95+ degrees at night with over 80% humidity for two solid months.

I had three oscillating room fans going and pretty much had to sleep stark naked. One shouldn't have to sweat in bed barring a sexual encounter.

[NewWaveChick1981]

15. Damn, that's HOT!

SC can be unforgivingly hot in the summer. :evilfrown: My first off-campus apt. after the dorms, my roomie was too cheap to run the a/c. It was often 100+ degrees that summer, and I suffered. When I got a new roomie, we agreed that a/c was a must. :)

[Aiptasia]

24. Yeah SC is a little warm

In July and August especially. Eventually I begged my parents for enough cash to buy a box window a/c unit but for a good solid two months there it was a sweat-fest.

Air conditioning, a most exquisite but necessary evil IMHO.

[NewWaveChick1981]

28. Well, according to ZombieNixon's post about

the levels of hell, I'm damned to the Sixth Level of Hell. But I'll bet that's not as hot as SC in the summertime... :P

[Midlodemocrat]

16. My first apartment had no AC and was on the ground floor of a very busy

intersection, so I was leery about leaving the windows open at night. (I lived by myself)

I would take an ice cold shower and train the fan on me all night long.

Awful, but tolerable.

Thank God for A/C.

[NewWaveChick1981]

21. Geez, that's miserable!

Ever turn the pillow over to the cool side, only to find that there isn't a cool side left? I hate that...

[Midlodemocrat]

23. Oh, man. I have.

A couple of years ago, our A/C went out just as the contractor was finishing spackling/sanding the addition. It was disgusting. I waited for the repairman until 3AM. I sent my husband and kids to a hotel. The poor guy had to catch a 6:50 flight.

By the time he dropped the kids back off, the house was cool again. But it really, really sucked.

[catmandu57]

13. I know what you mean

I'm waiting for our water heater to go out, eventually it's going to go, I've been trying for years to get my wife to set up a home equity account for emergencies.
I've came to the conclusion it's something I'm going to have to do myself, it's so damn hard to save even a little cash here.

[NewWaveChick1981]

18. When our dryer went out

back in October, I had just changed jobs and was waiting for my accrued vacation pay to pay off some stuff. When the dryer died, I had to line-dry things until the pay came in so we could get a new dryer (about a week and a half). What a PIA! :(

[In_The_Wind]

19. Damn! That is bad news.

Sorry.
I would give you a hug but you're probably too hot for that. :hi:

[NewWaveChick1981]

20. Thanks, JA!

:hi: Fortunately, everything's fixed now, and it didn't cost as much as I was anticipating. We're cool again! :D

[In_The_Wind]

26. Oh, I'm glad to hear the good news.

I already knew that you are cool. :yourock: Now your hubby and your pet are enjoying total coolness too.


www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=5194543&mesg_id=5194543

[NewWaveChick1981]

27. Thanks!!!

Back at ya...:yourock: We can both revel in our coolness now...

[xmas74]

29. Could be worse.

I rented a trailer once when finances were tight. The a/c went out in April. When we moved out that next April the landlord still had not even attempted to have it looked at.

I went out and purchased a window unit a/c for about $150 (one room only) w/ plans for my daughter and I to live in the living room only. The landlord would not allow it since I had to pop out a screen. (You just had to unscrew it and then put it back on in the fall!)

That year we had mostly 100+ days in July and August. We lived w/ fans and wet washcloths.

[NewWaveChick1981]

30. Geez, that was terrible!

Yeah, that was worse. I'd better count my blessings! :)

[xmas74]

32. It sucked.

At least you could replace your unit since you owned the home. My asshole landlord wouldn't allow it.

Of course, when I dropped off the rent at his office every month, his place was almost chilly in the summer.

[lavenderdiva]

31. our a/c went out in 2002, and we live in Houston!

we haven't had the money to replace it, so we live with fans all over the place, and are hot ALL the time.