Thank you EF!

[RoadToRiches]

Oh my... I am soooo glad I have EF setup! It's 90 degrees here, so I closed all the windows, and turned the AC on. Well, surprise surprise! Murphy showed up and didn't even call me. No letter, no post card...just shows up.

My AC is not blowing cold air. It's just little warm, so I think I either have a leak somewhere or needs to get refilled. I called the guy over here in my condo community that takes care of HVAC for people. He will come in on Thursday and check it out. I already transfered mulla from ING account, so it will hit my checking in couple days.

I am sooooo glad I have this thing setup. Sucks that I have to use it but that's what it's for. I slept good last night knowing I am covered. ;D

For now, I guess I will just have to take 10 cold showers to keep me cool. It's really hot in here now lol

[moneymaven]

That happened to us one summer and luckily, it was just a fuse on the AC. Way to go for being prepared with the EF to handle this. You're doing great indebt!!

[midjd]

Good job and good luck! Blowing some cold air your way...

[debtheaven]

Murphy showed up and didn't even call me. No letter, no post card...just shows up.

This cracked me up LOL.

[TrixAre4Kids]

Feels so good! ;D

Great job you are doing!

[8 Bit WWBG]

This happened to me too. I opted to replace the whole thing, since it was very old, and I knew damn well that the cheaper "patch job" would just result in it breaking in a different way 3 months later. $6,400 later...

I was very lucky it happened in April, and I was still able to get a good deal. The 90 degree days have started now, and there is no way any AC contractor is going to give a discount.

[kiskis]

Yay! Ice water on a washcloth on the back of your neck helps a lot.

[RoadToRiches]

My unit is pretty new. Well, it looks new lol.. I believe it was replaced before I moved in ( 7 years ago). But I never had it serviced. I know, bad idea. I hope it's nothing crazy. It works, just doesn't blow cold air, just "cool" air. I transferred $500 just to be on a safe side. Whatever I will have left, I just transfer back to my savings.

The guy said it will be $75 to do the maintenance thing, whatever that consists of. I just don't know if the freon or whatever they put in those things can be filled in again because of the time or if I have a leak somewhere. We'll see...

But I will spray some Murphy spray on thursday all over my place lol

[midjd]

A similar thing happened to our (almost brand new) unit this year - apparently when they fill it with Freon in the winter, it settles in some weird way so that it can end up not being full enough in the summer. They recharged it and it ended up being around $115 for the visit and the Freon. The technician told DH that if it was a leak, it would be another $115 to diagnose, fix, and recharge it - so hopefully yours will be well below the $500 mark, even if there is a leak.

There was a moment early in the visit when I wanted to bang my head against the wall, though... the technician looked at the unit and said, "Huh, it looks brand-new, it should work fine." I wanted to say "Okay, let me tell it that! I'm sure that will kick its butt into gear!"

[RoadToRiches]

Yeah, let's hope it just needs to be recharged. The guy said he can't just recharge it. He needs to see if there is a leak first. I really think it's just because of me neglecting that thing, just needs to be recharged.

[stl76]

"But I never had it serviced. I know, bad idea. "

Even if you don't do any other maintenance, make sure you clean the coil on the outdoor unit (turn off the power and hose it down), and replace the filters on the indoor unit.
I had the same problem before. Mine was a leak (caused by not cleaning the outdoor unit-the bad airflow increased pressure and cause a leak), I had a contractor come out and fill (and crossed my fingers for it to hold charge) and it did for a couple of years. That cost me ~$250 for for a lb of freon (they are a rip off). The second time, I just found someone from craigslist. It cost $100 for adding freon and cleaning the coil.

[tskeeter]

indebt, do you realize that your AC system has two sections, a coil and blower in the furnace, and a separate compressor unit? Based on your description, it sounds like the blower will run. But I wonder if one of the two circuit breakers for the compressor unit may be off? There is a circuit breaker for the compressor unit in your main electrical panel (frequently labeled A/C). There is probably also a "service disconnect" located in a smallish gray metal box near where your compressor unit is located. If one of these circuit breakers has been shut off, it would keep the compressor from running even though the blower in the furnace will run. Might be worth checking to try to avoid another couple of days fighting the heat until the service guy can get to you.

[DVM gone riding]

hmm I still have the heat on!! Usually May is my no heat/cool month but not this year! Right now we are having a blistery cold rain storm.

[busymom]

Sorry to hear Murphy visited you indebt!! Even if it slows down your repayment schedule a little bit, don't let it get you down. We're still cheering you on!

[Deleted]

Indebt, two great places for ac are the $1 movie theater (if you have one) and the public library.

My sister writes all the time about visiting the movie theater because she doesn't have a/c . . . only a swamp cooler. She lives in NM.

[RoadToRiches]

Everything is working, just AC needs recharge. AC unit works and blower works too, so it's not that. It just blows warm air. Not bad warm but you can tell that it's not as cold as it should be.

I cleaned out the metal mesh filter that was in this one electric air cleaner unit that's between my furnace and the vent...wow that thing was dirty! I didn't know it was even there. I took out those two power packs from the air cleaner thing and noticed metal mesh filter on the side. It was BAD. I cleaned it out and I have nice air flow going now from all the vents. About 50-60% more!

I got AC guy coming in either tomorrow or thursday.

[happyscooter]

Make sure there are no bugs in the unit that could cause the connectors not to be able to hit each other. This happened to us once and it took the repair guy 15 minutes and $75 to find the problem. It happened again this year, we knew what to do.

Now I am wondering if that was the problem 5 years ago when we replaced the whole unit.

[Deleted]

Wow. Thanks for starting this thread. I'm embarrassed to say I had no idea I was supposed to do anything special with my AC and it's 11 years old! Luckily, we're in a windy spot in MN and don't run it very much, but still, I'm adding "check filters and coils" to my weekend to-do list.

[RoadToRiches]

minny, you should get your furnace checked every year...sadly, I never did that either. I will this winter though.
I have a guy coming in today to check this thing out. It was sooooo freaking hot here that by the time I feel asleep, it was 5am

[stl76]

"Everything is working, just AC needs recharge. AC unit works and blower works too, so it's not that. It just blows warm air. Not bad warm but you can tell that it's not as cold as it should be."

Yes it is definitely sounds like the charge. But make sure the unit is completely off until it gets recharged. Because otherwise you will freeze your coil (starting from the outside unit all the way inside) and that will cause bigger problems (ruin the compressor, bigger leak, etc). You said you cleaned a filter on the indoor unit but make sure you clean (hose down) the outdoor unit coil once a year also; while cleaning make sure you don't bend the fins (they are easily bent, which will reduce your heat transfer but if you do bend them there is a comb tool you can use to straighten them-and fins are very sharp so be careful).

[RoadToRiches]

Yeah I got it all turned off. I had it running for a little yesterday hoping maybe it will cool my place off, but no go.

I would always clean the coil on the AC unit from all the pollen and stuff. I usually just hose it down with light water flow.

I just can't believe how much airflow I get now after cleaning that filter Crazy, in 7 years, I never knew it was even there! When I pulled it out, it was like a brick of dirt!!! No wonder my furnace sounded like it was going to blow up. lol. Now it runs lot smoother.

[qofcc]

Glad you had cash set aside to cover this expense, but may I be the first to point out that air conditioner repairs fall under the budget line item of maintenance/repairs, not an "Emergency"?

[RoadToRiches]

Jun 1, 2011 10:36:59 GMT -5 qofcc said:

Glad you had cash set aside to cover this expense, but may I be the first to point out that air conditioner repairs fall under the budget line item of maintenance/repairs, not an "Emergency"?

Yes, next year they are lol...but good point. Totally forgot about this expense. Perhaps because I never did any maintenance on my HVAC system.

[RoadToRiches]

All set 130 bucks later, my AC is filled up and serviced. He checked my furnace too and went over things, checked thermostat and did some little things here and there on top of filling her up over 4 lbs worth of juice. ;D It's soooo nice and cool now. Too bad the weather cooled off. I wanted to run that thing! lol

I learned a lot during the process too!

Found out that my 30 year old Rhem furnace is actually pretty good one and "they don't make them solid like this anymore". So that made me feel good. He checked pretty much everything and made sure everything is running nice. AC was completely empty, so he checked for leaks and there weren't any.

I am a happy camper. Now I just have to transfer rest of the mulla back to my EF.

Murphy and his family all left and didn't even freakin' say "bye bye, thanks for bfast and all!". They just packed and left. Didn't even fix their bed! Left a mess! Pricks...

[debtheaven]

So glad it all worked out!

Found out that my 30 year old Rhem furnace is actually pretty good one and "they don't make them solid like this anymore".

Ours was too (not the same brand, but I'm in France, so we can't compare brands. Ours was considered the "Rolls Royce" of boilers / furnaces, a "Hydromotrix", or something like that).

Two years ago the HUGE hot water tank died and was leaking profusely. The whole installation was so old that it was smarter to replace the entire furnace / boiler (never sure what the difference is) rather than replace just the hot water tank. We got a 30% tax rebate for going with a new "green" installation, but again, I don't know what the laws are where you live. We went with a tankless water heater (very common here) with a small tank (because we're in a house).

So just a heads up. If yours is 30 years old, that's a grand old age, but remember, it won't last forever.

Our system was 28 years old when we decided to replace it because of that leaking hot water tank. By the way, that's the loan that's in my signature. We took out a three year loan, it'll be paid off 11 months early.

So I really encourage you to look at this issue HOLISTICALLY.

Also, once you replace it (and I wouldn't do it until I needed to) you'll also save money because the new system will be much more energy efficient than the old one.

At least that was our experience.

[2kids10horses]

Well, I would say you've bought some time.

There IS a leak, but it must be too small to find. The freon doesn't just dry up, it should stay in the system. The fact you have none, tells me you have a leak. I'm really surprised they filled it up. Freon leaking into the atomsphere does damage the ozone layer. (And I'm not one of those environ-wackos).

And, since you have a 30 year old furnace, I would suspect that's where the leak is. You will find out in the next couple of weeks.

If your outside compressor is fairly new, you may be able to just get a new furnace/blower. It will be more efficient. That's the good news. The bad news is it will be expensive.

Meanwhile, keep your fingers crossed. Maybe your system will be the exception to the rule. I've had dozens of houses, and unfortunately, none of mine have ever been the "exception" where a recharge of freon has "fixed" the problem. I've always ended up having to replace either 1/2 or the whole system.

I don't mean to be depressing, but you need to be prepared...

[RoadToRiches]

He checked for leaks. There was no leak. He was here for like 3 hours. He filled the whole thing with Helium (?) and waited and waited...nothing escaped.
He said it could of been because of my filter. Then the caps outside on the compressor were little loose too.

He wouldn't fill it up if there was a leak.

[Deleted]

I need to find the owners manual that came with the AC. I couldn't find a filter anywhere in the house. There's apparently a couple inside the air exhanger inside the house that are supposed to be washed every six months (whoops ), but I'm assuming they're something different.

[2kids10horses]

indebt -

Then it was probably the service caps. (Those are the ones they attach their pressure testers onto. They're notorious for going bad.) If so, then he fixed the leak when he replaced them. Sounds like you got off easy!

[RoadToRiches]

Yeah.. actually both of the caps were not tight. He said that what probably happened was since the filter was never cleaned (in 7 years), there was a lot of pressure on those caps and they loosen up. He said that those go. He said I was lucky too.