My neighbor, Kahn Souphanousinphone, knocked on the door last Saturday, said something unintelligible, and gestured for me to follow him. He took me to the back yard and pointed to the condenser unit. It was running but the fan wasn’t. Great. Seconds later, I was on the phone with the heating and air company I use when needed. They responded immediately.
After a brief inspection, the problem was found; another blown capacitor. But there’s always something else to throw into the mix. The doohickey to which many wires connect had scorch marks and it was low on freon. Capacitor ($260) plus wired whatchamacallit ($260) plus two pounds of freon ($200) equals $7,300.
A twenty-five year old furnace and a sixteen year old condenser will probably start nickle-diming me to death. So, time for a total replacement.
Monday morning arrives as does the crew. Five hours later, a shiny new system was installed. Quieter than before and much, much colder, all was well. The temperature had gotten up to 90° inside with 77% humidity so it was fun to watch great jets of visible vapor erupt from each vent. That called for a dehumidifier which ran for a few days and removed nearly sixteen gallons of water. I like the lower humidity and was told it would help the air conditioner along, so the dehumidifier will remain a permanent fixture during the summer months.
No complaints so far; outdoor temperatures have gotten up to 102° with a heat index of 110° but the indoor temperature has remained steady at 73°.
21 February 1946 – 14 January 2016