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It always happens at the most inconvenient time...

Midlife

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Monday night, I go back out to the garage after dinner, and it feels stuffier than normal. I look at the thermostat, and it says 79* instead of the set-point of 77*. I re-set the circuit breakers, as that sometimes allows an AC relay to re-set. No dice, this time. I go out to the motor assembly outside, and the fan isn't moving. Uh-ohh. I turn off the AC and let the fan run. Call the AC company that we have a maintenance contract, and they say sure, we'll come out, but be warned, that there are many calls today. Can I make an appointment for tomorrow? No...but Wednesday, sure! OK...I'll wait by the phone for the call to be made 30 minutes prior to the arrival of the technician. At midnight, I get the call. Meanwhile, the temperatures have risen to 84*. He checks out the outside fan, and asks me to start the AC. I go back out and the fan is running! How did you do that? He said he push-started it. Huh? Yup, if the starting condenser fails, you can get the fan to start and it'll keep running until the thermostat shuts it off. So...bad condenser plus labor minus discount is $180.

I go online and find that same condenser for $16 from Amazon. It's on order for the next time this happens, now that I know what the symptoms are.

But the real question is: why do these things always break on a weekend, Holiday, or late at night? Do they have a mind of their own and seek to irritate the bejesus out of their owners? Are they programmed by the technicians so that they earn OT when they are up for replacement?

Grrrrrr....
 
So where are the Fbombs and naked women in this post? You put it in the VGOFL. Guess that I have to do something to keep it from being moved. :p67a.jpg 172.jpg

You are welcome.

fd
 
Condenser? As in motor starter? No one calls them that anymore. Capacitor. Their failure is pretty common. I always keep one on hand...after the first time one failed. I was out of town and SWMBO called in a tech late one night and it cost me close to $300. Thieves. I wanna say he charged over $100 for the $15 part.
 
I had a compressor go out on me on Labor Day weekend a few years ago. The unit was old and I knew it needed to be replaced, but I kept putting it off until it bit me in the ass. We were in the middle of a heat wave with temps near 100 and it was miserable in the house, so I ended up paying way too much to have the unit replaced. The guy was unapologetic, saying I have the unit you need, everyone else is closed, yada yada....
 
I feel ya. An hour before all of the family is to come over to celebrate mothers day plus a birthday and I notice the house has started to get hot.The compressor had gone out. Same as others, I knew it was old and going, but I hoped for another year. Nope, it picked the worse time ever.
 
I feel ya. An hour before all of the family is to come over to celebrate mothers day plus a birthday and I notice the house has started to get hot.The compressor had gone out. Same as others, I knew it was old and going, but I hoped for another year. Nope, it picked the worse time ever.

And you'll hear about that the rest of your life.
 
They are trying to kill me by slowly sucking the life out of me. My current estimate is it will take 20 years, all of it will be with adult kids living upstairs.
 
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