I can tell you without a doubt that the world is a better place with air conditioning. Mine was repaired on Tuesday and I have been marveling over it ever since. Not only is it working properly, it is working better than I personally have ever experienced.
I never knew that people had air conditioners that came on and then went back off 4 minutes later while it was in the mid 90's outside. I thought they were just supposed to come on at 8 a.m. each day and shut back off around midnight running continuously the entire time. I also didn't know that if you set your thermostat at 78 that there was any chance of it actually being 78 degrees in your house at any given time. I thought that a 78 degree thermostat setting guarantied that the temperature in your house would be in the low to mid 80's. Apparently, this is why other people don't have to drink a couple of glasses of wine before opening their electric bill. I always just thought the rest of the world was tougher than me.
I have ceiling fans in each bedroom and one in the living room. Beyond that, I have an oscillating fan in each room in the house. In the past I have kept all of these fans running on the high setting at all times when I am at home in order to help keep the temp in the house in the low 80's during the summer. The ceiling fans have always stayed on at all times, it is the oscillating fans that I have always turned off when I left. Because of this, my house has always sounded a little like a wind tunnel. I don't mind telling you that when you speak and your voice vibrates as though you are speaking directly into a fan, you have a problem. Additionally, each year my air conditioner would break down a minimum of two times and I would have to call the home warranty company to send someone out who would always put some little band aid on it and leave.
Then the following month, my electric bill would come in an I would take a couple of belts, open it up and start crying. You see, when you live in a two bedroom condo, your electric bill should NEVER be over $600 in a single month. Last year, my electric bills for June - August added up to almost $2,000. Now granted, the siding was off of my house for several weeks in July which contributed to my record breaking July bill. You see, the condos in their infinite wisdom decided that the best time of year to take the siding off and replace the insulation and replace the siding would be during the hottest month of a record breaking hot year. And since they were doing the entire complex, they didn't just take the siding off of a unit, replace the insulation and then re-side it. They took the siding off of several buildings which took a week or so, then they brought the insulation guys in, who took a week or so to replace all of the 40 year old insulation with new. Then they took another week or so to put the new siding up. So there was a period of time when I was on a cruise ship in the Caribbean and my electric bill should have been going down because no one was even in the house so the thermostat had been turned up several degrees when I was air conditioning the out of doors. That was really a highlight for me.
Four years ago, they replaced my roof in August. I really enjoyed having the roof off in August. At the same time, they took the skylights out and resealed them which is great except that you could almost see the dollar bills flying out through the hole in the ceiling while they were doing it. They also resealed all of the dormer windows. Don't get me wrong, I love that my extraordinary HOA fee covers all of the maintenance and repairs on the outside of the house. I just wish that they used a little more common sense when they were deciding on the time period in which they would perform these services.
But now I have a new air conditioning unit inside and it has made a world of difference. Did you know that when your air conditioner works properly you can do crazy things like cook meals and dry clothes without the temperature in your home going up to 90 degrees???!?!?!?! Crazy, huh? Now, my gas bill could go up slightly since I am now taking showers that use some hot water. I don't know if I would ever be able to get used to an actual hot shower again, but for a long time, I used no hot water in this house between late May and early September except for washing clothes and dishes.
At some point I will still have to get a new compressor, but Benito told me that my new coil is larger than the old one and will be able to handle whatever I replace the old compressor with. He said it will be an easy switch. I had already priced compressors last winter when I was planning on buying a new unit in the spring. You see the plan had been to wait until April when I would get my income tax refund and add it to the money I had been saving for a new air conditioner and replace it. Then the company (who shall not be named) laid me off and I decided that I should hang on to that money in case I needed it to live on. So, I guess everything worked out, except that I was pretty hot and whiney for two weeks. But it gave me a greater appreciation for the wonder that is air conditioning.
My friend, Jenny's air conditioner went out overnight last night. I hope that her home warranty company is quicker about getting things done than mine was. Keep a good thought for her!
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