Bare Necessities of Life

I had my air conditioner inspected today—that statement is deceptively simple and yet the process was anything but. The tech arrived on time and was very pleasant, but he was hard to understand (as foreign accents sometimes are) and he seemed to be very nervous that he was going to make a mistake. Isn’t that when one usually makes mistakes?

The 16-point check up took much longer than I expected, but since he was inspecting all the duct-work, electrical connections, wiring, fluid levels, multiple motors, capacitors and compressors, I’m glad he took his sweet time.

The inspection was only $30 (our local power company was offering a special through their registered contractors) but I figured that at the very least I was looking at a small repair bill. Yet, hope springs eternal so I had $30 cash on me. You never know.

After an hour and a half, the tech notified me that a small part on the inside unit needed replacing and that it would run me an additional $65 dollars. “Wow, I’m getting away cheap”, was my first thought. Then he said he wanted to show me something on the exterior unit. Uh-oh.

The capacitor on the outside compressor was beginning to show signs of wear and he said it was up to me whether to replace it or not. He added that it might last 2 years but it might only last two months. In Arizona, one does not take lightly the news that one’s A/C unit might break down in the heat of summer. I could see a gross, brown, oily discharge covering the top of the capacitor near the wiring connectors. (Perhaps it is equivalent to corrosion on the terminals of a car battery.) I conferred with my husband by phone and he agreed we shouldn’t take the chance of a larger inconvenience and expense down the line and have the part replaced before it failed. (The part looks a lot like this.) →→

The tech drove to the warehouse and picked up the needed part, returned to the house and installed the new capacitor. He came inside, turned the A/C back on and proclaimed the job done. He then went out to his truck to write up the paperwork, saying that he wanted to give the air a few minutes to cool before he left so that I was confident that everything was in working order. I could hear the air moving if I stood under the filter access panel in the hallway, but there was no cool air blowing out of the vents. Hmmm. I went outside to check the external unit and discovered that it wasn’t running. Double hmmm.

I went out to the driveway, knocked politely on the van window and told the tech that the unit was not running properly. He looked confused and said I must be looking at something wrong. When I suggested that he come to the backyard to see for himself that the fan blades were not spinning in the external unit and he got a horrified look on his face. We walked quickly to the unit and he realized I was right. Duh. I may not be a certified heating and cooling technician, but I can see when a fan isn’t spinning.

He quickly began assessing the problem and I left him to his work—he was nervous enough without a pissed-off housewife looking over his shoulder. A short time later, he returned to the house, adjusted the thermostat and re-proclaimed the job done. I suggested that he stay until the A/C cycled off and back on of its own accord so that I felt comfortable that we were really in the clear. Luckily for him, he only needed to be asked once.

All totaled, including drive time to pick up the replacement part, the job I anticipated would take about an hour took four and a half hours—but I should enjoy air-conditioned comfort for many months to come.

Oh, the joys of home ownership.