A/C Go Boom

Fuck. My central air bit the big one a couple days ago, and I figured it would be a simple matter of calling the home warranty people and asking them to come out and fix it. I couldn’t have been more wrong if I’d spent five hours getting a Girl Scout high on crack, only to sell her into a seedy prostitution ring for a single delicious triscuit. I only wish I had access to a tasty cracker in turbulent times like these.

What went wrong? My research told me it was likely that the compressor did a great impression of a Pinto. While it didn’t quite explode, this thirty-year-old beast of an air-conditioner drew so much current, it simply tripped the breaker every time it attempted to start. No, I’m not making that part up: the outside unit is actually older than I am. For whatever reason, the home warranty covered replacing that rather old rusty tank outside, but the inside part works just fine, so it isn’t covered. Unfortunately the new condenser is more efficient than the currently installed evaporator coil, so it could reduce the life of the new unit, and not cool as well unless I replace both halves of the cooling system.

So I’ve saved at least $1200 for not having to personally buy a new 2-ton 10-SEER condenser, not including installation fees. I only have to pay around $700 for the new evaporator installation into the furnace, including labor. All of this installation is taking place Friday morning. I personally think it’ll be a whole lot of fun watching the process, actually. Not that I enjoy spending such a large amount of cash randomly, but I should make it up in electricity bills this summer.

Ryan came over to play DDR, and he dragged along his Cobalt Flux pad. The thing is only half an inch thick and weighs around 40 pounds. I have to wonder how they managed to squeeze that much weight into something that small. I’m guessing lead. After he soundly kicked my butt, we talked for a while about college and DDR and getting a machine in the area, and called it a night. I was thinking I was making some progress, but I’m not so sure now. Then again, even if I’ve hit the limit of my personal abilities, it’s still fun. I’ll never quit!

Well, I will when I’m just way too old, but that’s not going to happen for a while, especially after I perfect anti-aging technology.