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Honored Contributor
Posts: 12,844
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: My Central Air Conditioner is not working

I'm glad that the op's air conditioner has been fixed!  I know the dreaded feeling of the AC going out.

 

We had a problem with the AC the end of May.  The temps weren't too bad then and our AC guy came out to clean it and add some coolant.  It went back on!

 

A month later (just a few weeks ago) it stopped working again.  This time it seems that a small snake got into the unit (terrible smell!) and damaged the circut board.  I was afraid that we would have to wait a while for the replacement part and it would cost $$$.  However we got lucky...he was able to pick up the right part the next day (it was pretty hot & miserable by then) and it cost a little more than $800.00.  Thank goodness it was under 1k!

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Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,640
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: My Central Air Conditioner is not working

I get my AC checked every spring, the person checks voltages & coolant levels, etc.  My system was replaced in 2011 & had a 10 year warranty & a requirment of the warranty was that I get it serviced at least once a year, which I've continued with now that the warranty has expired.  Plus, I buy really good filters & change them every 90 days.  I'm in Tucson, AZ, so I need AC.

 

I bought the house, which was only 3 years old, in 2006 & for the 5 years until I had the sytem replaced, it broke at least once a summer.  Come to find out when they replaced it, the builder must've thrown my system together with spare parts, because everything was different brands of parts stuck together (Amana compressor, Carrier chiller to Amana furnace) & nothing was balanced to each other.  The guys said no wonder it broke so much, it all should be the same brand & matched & balanced to each other!

 

When I worked in Seattle, I worked with a gal who was born & raised in Phoenix, AZ without AC & she said she could never go back there to live again.  She said when she was a kid, it cooled off a lot at night because it wasn't as built-up there wasn't as much asphalt & concrete to absorb the heat of the day & then, radiate it back all night so it never really cools off.  Plus, she said so many people move there & try to have a lawn & non-native plants, so they water, water, water, which makes it more humid.  She said it just felt miserable & it made sense.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 33,055
Registered: ‎05-17-2010

Re: My Central Air Conditioner is not working

[ Edited ]

@panda1234 wrote:

@Shanus wrote:

@panda1234   Defintely agree. We had our A/C checked a few months ago...just in case. It didn't need repair, but I knew we'd make it through the hot, humid southern summer....until the storms knocked the power out overnight. Ugggg!


@Shanus I am in Delaware and it can get pretty hot and humid, where are you? If you don't have the A/C going it is not good for the carpets or furniture......gets damp from the humidity. Several years ago we had to wait for a part for the A/C and we lived in our finished basement.


@panda1234   I'm in North Carolina and when it gets hot and humid...unbearable!!! In the mod-90s this week and heat index about 100. W/O my air conditioning, I'd perish. (?!?!?!). We have hug floor fabs for back ups when power goes out. 

 

I sleep "hot" and have the a/c set for 65 at night, 68 during the day.  

 

Duke Power gives a set charge every month based on the precious year and then "settles up" at the end of the year. We've rarely gone over. So let my house be freezing cold...I wear my long exercise pants and a long sleeve shirt in the house...DH, too. In winter, the heat is only set at 70 (fireplace if needed in kitchen/sunroom) if needed....and heat off at night w/ windows in bedroom wide open!!! Can't wait to feel that cold blast while sleeping....

Honored Contributor
Posts: 30,916
Registered: ‎05-10-2010

Re: My Central Air Conditioner is not working


@FancyPhillyshopper wrote:

 

 

I wonder what people did before air conditioning was invented?

 

I wonder what people in the rest of the world in poor countries do?

 

I wonder if everybody wanted air conditioning if the planet could really sustain that kind of demand?

 

Perhaps some places are not really meant for people to inhabit.  Watching all the wild fires destroy neighborhoods is sad but also a warning.

 

 

Before AC, we used fans and we opened windows abs we pulled the shades down to keep the blazing sun out.  We dressed in light layers, drank iced drinks, napped  and accepted that being hot in the summer was a fact of life.  Just as cell phones have become a necessity of life, AC also has.  Not necessarily central AC but the portable ones are affordable now.  


 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 32,482
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: My Central Air Conditioner is not working


@FancyPhillyshopper wrote:

 

 

I wonder what people did before air conditioning was invented?

 

I wonder what people in the rest of the world in poor countries do?

 

I wonder if everybody wanted air conditioning if the planet could really sustain that kind of demand?

 

Perhaps some places are not really meant for people to inhabit.  Watching all the wild fires destroy neighborhoods is sad but also a warning.


@FancyPhillyshopper I think about that issue a lot of times.  I remembe a friend in the energy issue used to wonder how much fuel we would need when all the bicycles in China got motors (now this was LONG ago).

 

And GMO grains now allow people to live in places people couldn't exist long ago.  Resources are an issue.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,291
Registered: ‎06-15-2015

Re: My Central Air Conditioner is not working


@Rose429 wrote:

@Scooby Doo @I am sorry about ur air conditioner. I don't know where u live but I hope it is not to hot. 

 

@Rose429 

 

She did say it was 107°, and that sounds hot, even to me.

 

It's hot here, not quite that hot, but pushing 100°. Haven't had whole house AC on in over 10 years. 

 

We have heat pump/AC in our patio room. When my wife is of on her Pet Sitting Business, which is now and for another 6 days, I do not turn it on. Worked in heat for over 30 years in a factory, body still acclimated to heat.

 

Have a portable AC in her bedroom, along with a portable Quartz Infrared Heater. Cheaper to only cool and heat the rooms in use. Learned that decades ago.

 

hckynut  🇺🇸


 

hckynut(john)
Super Contributor
Posts: 420
Registered: ‎06-14-2010

Re: My Central Air Conditioner is not working


@BlueFinch wrote:

@Scooby Doo On July 4th, my AC was blowing warm air. Checked the compressor outside and the fan wasn't turning and there was only a humming sound. Sounds just like yours. 

 

Luckily I found my AC guy on a holiday and he came out. It was a condenser in the compressor. It took him only 20 minutes to install a new one for $400.

 

Money well spent. If it had been something worse that took some time for repairs, I would have had to leave. With the heat many of us have been having, it's dangerous without AC. Find someone who can come sooner. 



Same for me and same price.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,402
Registered: ‎08-31-2019

Re: My Central Air Conditioner is not working

I mentioned in a previous post how outside workers are amazing in handling the heat. How acclimated they become. I've asked them how they do it. Common reply: 'We're used to it.'

 

Recently they were placing all new water and sewer lines. Lots of hard work. Three month's long project. They didn't miss a beat, when the heat set in, even when it hit 107 recently, with triple digit temps becoming the norm, setting records.

 

I just got a note on my door stating they are laying down new blacktop tomorrow and we're to keep our cars off the street. It's going to be 103 tomorrow (106 h.index) with that hot blacktop going down. They're human energizer bunnies; they never stop.

 

I'm reminded of who our heroes really are and how often they're taken for granted. All while most of us sit in perfect comfort with our AC's blasting. It also makes me more aware of how fragile I am (when I think I'm in shape) as well as most I know. Those of us with AC are NOT acclimated to the heat. Our health is dependent on climate control. 

 

We reached 97% capacity for power grid usage yesterday and it will be hotter today and tomorrow than yesterday. ERCOT is alerting. Finger's crossed we don't brown out and that our older AC systems can continue to handle this mess. I admit, I've become too soft to go without AC. 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 15,344
Registered: ‎05-01-2010

Re: My Central Air Conditioner is not working


@BlueFinch wrote:

I mentioned in a previous post how outside workers are amazing in handling the heat. How acclimated they become. I've asked them how they do it. Common reply: 'We're used to it.'

 

Recently they were placing all new water and sewer lines. Lots of hard work. Three month's long project. They didn't miss a beat, when the heat set in, even when it hit 107 recently, with triple digit temps becoming the norm, setting records.

 

I just got a note on my door stating they are laying down new blacktop tomorrow and we're to keep our cars off the street. It's going to be 103 tomorrow (106 h.index) with that hot blacktop going down. They're human energizer bunnies; they never stop.

 

I'm reminded of who our heroes really are and how often they're taken for granted. All while most of us sit in perfect comfort with our AC's blasting. It also makes me more aware of how fragile I am (when I think I'm in shape) as well as most I know. Those of us with AC are NOT acclimated to the heat. Our health is dependent on climate control. 

 

We reached 97% capacity for power grid usage yesterday and it will be hotter today and tomorrow than yesterday. ERCOT is alerting. Finger's crossed we don't brown out and that our older AC systems can continue to handle this mess. I admit, I've become too soft to go without AC. 


@BlueFinch  I have gone many years in my life without AC. Grew up that way, lived in different places when married where we had no AC or couldn't afford to run it.(Florida, Turkey). To say I may be acclimated to it is wrong. I hate the heat and still do. I never changed.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,402
Registered: ‎08-31-2019

Re: My Central Air Conditioner is not working

@proudlyfromNJ Being acclimated to it doesn't mean there is no discomfort. Of course there is.

 

It just means that your body is adapted to handle the assault to the system and less likely to have you wind up in the ER. Like I did :-). 

 

If we did the work my street workers have been doing, without some serious physical conditioning first, we'd likely collapse.That conditioning allows for more heat tolerance.

 

These workers hate the heat, too, but they roll with it accepting it's their role. It's a mind over matter thing, willingly accepting what they can't change. A form of acclimating physically and mentally to handle the job. 

 

I'm on your team. It would be unrealistic to give up hating, and respecting, the heat. Turkey, yikes. That had to be a bit warm :-).