May 9, 2020
Dear Everyone:
Late last summer I discovered that my condominium’s central air
conditioning was not performing at its best.
In fact, I discovered that the coils had iced over to the point
of freezing the cover to the inside of the unit until I turned the whole
kit-and-kaboodle off and let it relax.
I put down a piece of old toweling to absorb the puddle that
ultimately appeared.
I found that, as long as I only ran the AC for a couple of hours at a
time, everything was, as the saying goes, “cool”.
But I knew that it was only a matter of time before things would
come to a head. After all,
my upstairs neighbors were forced to replace their system quite
unexpectedly just last year.
The condo was originally built in 1988, which makes it 32 years old now.
That seems ancient until I remember that I bought my first,
completely new, condo that same year.
In any case, now seemed like an auspicious time.
The weather was just beginning to turn warm.
In this part of California “spring” is that day between winter
and summer.
And with the Natural Disaster currently termed “Coronavirus” going on,
many businesses, even those designated “essential”, are at least
partially shut down. I did
some online research, comparing reviews of a few local organizations,
and selected one that looked optimum.
I consulted their website and scheduled a consultation for last Monday.
A few minutes later, I received a phone call.
Not only were they available, they could come the very next day
if I preferred. Actually, I
preferred Monday. We agreed
on a time “window” between 9:00 and 11:00 am.
A few minutes after that, I received an email confirmation.
On Sunday I received a text message, and an email, reminding me
of the appointment. Monday
morning, I received another text announcing that the technician (photo
supplied) was “on the way”.
A few minutes before 9:00 he was at the door.
He was wearing a red shirt, with company logo, and color-coordinated
face mask and plastic “booties” to cover his shoes upon entry.
The HVAC stands, along with the water heater, in a closet in the
hallway, much easier to access than inside the ceiling as is the case
with upstairs units. In
short order he determined the problem.
The Good News: He knew what
the problem was. The Bad
News: The system was 32
years old; the kind of coolant used is no longer available; fixing the
problem would be a Band-Aid at best.
On the other hand, the same company installs new systems in a variety of
configurations; and a sales representative could be there that same
afternoon. The sales rep
duly appeared, complete with glossy brochure about what a fine company
they have, and all their technicians are trained and fully vetted, and
so on and so forth. No
picking up a crew in the local hardware store parking lot.
I already had a list of home improvements that I had planned to do this
year. Replacing the HVAC
(Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) system was not on the list, but
it immediately went to the top.
Putting in a walk-in tub could wait.
Air conditioning could not.
More importantly, the money for these improvements was already in my
savings account. To the
sales rep’s delight, I chose one of the higher options.
After all, I’m worth it.
We got on the phone with the company at once; and, again, they
could have someone there as soon as they received the permits.
I hadn’t realized that replacing the furnace/air conditioner required a
permit. Nevertheless, not
only did they get the permit, they got it in record time (the city’s
permit office also has a lot less to do these days) and called to offer
to install the new system a day earlier than originally planned.
Unfortunately, I had three appointments that day, so we agreed on
this Friday, as in yesterday.
Once again, I got a text reminder the day before, and another text, with
photo, that the installer was on his way, arriving promptly at 9:00
again. Later, he was joined
by a compatriot with a much larger truck.
Naturally, once the installer knew where the furnace was located, he put
protective flooring down, and got right to work, taking things apart,
positioning various items around the place.
Whenever he thought it appropriate, he let me know what was going
on. For instance, he warned
me that he would be making a “loud noise” as he needed to enlarge the
hole in the closet floor to accommodate the newer, and larger unit.
Later, he “fused the copper”, proving that both smoke detectors
were working correctly, and more or less in tandem, beeping
energetically to each other.
In the meantime, his helper was setting up the new heat exchange
compressor outside. It’s
slightly smaller than my car.
Lots of fine-tuning and checking the various vents in all the rooms.
Finally, a mere eleven hours after they began, they finished.
After explaining that the company would contact me for an
additional appointment because the breakers would need to be upgraded
before the final permit could be issued, they left.
About twelve hours later, around 8:18 this morning, I got a call from
the dispatcher that they would like to schedule a technician to come
(between 10:00 am and 1:00 pm today) to properly program the thermostat.
It turned out that it was not so much the complexity of the system, but
the fact that the installers had done a great job of putting the right
things in the right place; but not so much attaching the correct wires
in the decades-old electrical setup here.
It took him about two hours, and multiple calls to additional
experts, to get everything (fingers crossed!) properly attached.
Meanwhile, at precisely noon, the CPAP cleaner in the bedroom started
its daily cleaning ritual, which begins with a loud buzzing noise.
Since the compressor is just outside the bedroom window, the
technician initially assumed that the compressor was malfunctioning and
was about to achieve escape velocity.
I assured him that this was not the case.
Shortly after that he pronounced the system Ready for Prime Time
and set up the thermostat to keep everything between 68 and 74 degrees
at all times. We still have
to deal with the issue of the outdated breakers and getting the whole
thing approved by the City
In the meantime, I have introduced the thermostat to my home Wi-Fi
system. Should I feel the
need to use my cell phone to adjust the temperature, that can be
arranged. Considering the
fact that the cell phone is usually on a stand in the kitchen, and the
thermostat is just in the hallway, deciding which is closer is a case of
“half of one, six dozen of the other.”
Love, as always,
Pete
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