Adventures in Air Conditioning Part 2.

Such is the life of a home owner.  Next to owning a boat, I cannot think of another consumer item into which vast quantities of cash flow, besides your home.  Many of these costs, while yielding a tangible benefit, are of little comfort--such as a new roof is necessary, but you don't really think about it.  Or a new water heater, or fridge, etc.  Some appliances are a necessary part of life, and none more so than the central air conditioning in your Texas house.  You'll understand this most acutely, when your A/C croaks in late July...ask me how I know.  Remember a year or so ago, when we when through the process of replacing the compressor motor?

Yeah, the A/C died again last Friday night.  Lucky for us, it was cool Friday night, and Saturday afternoon the A/C man came and worked on the system.  It ran like a charm Saturday night, but by noon Sunday, the core of the 17yr old issue, a valve, was sticking again.  To try to fix the valve and replace the inside coil which has a leak, would be like pouring good money after bad, since the outside part of the system is 17 yrs old too, except for the motor we replaced about a year ago.  It would likely fail in another year or so, and have to be replaced with a unit incompatible (different coolant gas) than our current one.  So we'd still have to replace an almost new coil etc.

This part is actually still working...

Unlike the weekend, this week is starting off hot and humid.  Humidity is running 94% this morning, and the high will be 96*F with the rest of the week being much the same.  We broke down Sunday night with an emergency run to Big Box Mart and bought a small window A/C unit for the master bedroom, so that DH and I could sleep.   The kids have had to suffer in their rooms however.  But today should bring them some relief.  Our A/C man is bringing over a pair of loaner window units, which we will put in the kids' rooms.  That way even the dogs can have some A/C at night.  It was so hot in the rest of the house last night that I insisted that old dog Cody sleep in our room, under the bed.  It was the only place he would lie quietly without constant panting.

Pant, pant, pant!

The A/C won't be replaced until Friday.  That was the soonest the install crew could come do the work.  I think it's gonna be a long week!  Once done though, it will be most welcome, since this weekend is forecast for 100*F on Saturday.  Ahhh, welcome to Texas in July!  The new system should lower our electric bills, as it is far more efficient than the old unit.  The .gov has an efficiency scale, dubbed SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio), consumers can use to compare systems.  Our old one, best as I can tell from the web, rates around a 10. The scale tops out around 23, and higher is better.  The new unit is a SEER 16.  It will take a few years to offset the not-inconsequential cost of the new unit, but it should occur eventually.  And thanks to the Dave Ramsey plan, we don't need to sweat the cost (pun intended).