Blister In The Sun

[pshaw_raven]

The air conditioning is out.

Happily, we found a local repair company that works relatively longer hours and were able to talk to them last night. It was probably around 10 by the time we were done opening the unit and looking at it. We thought the compressor might be bad, but when Fox described the problem to the tech, he said it might be the starter. If so it's a fairly easy fix. He should be here later this afternoon.

It's a newer system and still under the manufacturer's warranty so we're not that worried about it. It's just annoying to be without AC right now. It's "only" around 86 at the moment, but with the blinds down and fans on, some parts of the house are staying acceptably cool.

No real idea what would cause the starter to fail, but we've been having a lot of problems with the power lately. Okay, not "problems," exactly, but a lot of little power surges and fluctuations. We can tell sometimes because lights flicker and you can hear things shutting off, but it's most obvious with Fox's computer, since you can hear the fairly loud clicking sounds it makes as the power goes on and off and the battery backup tries to compensate. I have no idea what Clay Electric has done or what this is about. In 2019 they conducted a series of repairs and renovations on the rural parts of the power grid, including getting most of us hooked up with those wireless meters. It was great through storm season, as the new system proved to be pretty robust. The only major, extended outage we've had was when a truck hit a utility pole and literally pulled down a couple hundred yards of power lines.

Between being hot and having depleted blood volume from donating, I'm extremely lethargic right now. I've also been weirdly compelled to drink and have probably been downing twenty ounces each hour, but I'm finally feeling non-thirsty now. I have a treat for later in the fridge - the Topo Chico mineral water I like was on sale at Publix.

It's kind of nice having the windows open and being able to hear the outside world, but I like being cool in summer. Besides, it's always a lot of fun the first day we open the house in the fall - the cats love it.

At least the humidity isn't bad right now, LOL.

Comments

[cdayzee]

Interesting that you've been experiencing issues with your electricity because lately, we have been too, which isn't usual for us. Our power stayed on throughout the winter storm in Feb that had everyone out of commission for days. It's starting to become incentive to think about getting solar panels. They're becoming quite popular around us.

I start feeling it when the power is off & the inside temp starts creeping over 80 degrees because once it starts climbing it seems to heat up quickly then of course takes that much longer to cool down, thus putting more demand on the system.

[expandranon]

Call the power company and describe the problem. It's probably something in the local infrastructure that's not working right. We used to have a similar problem here whenever it had recently rained and it turned out to be caused by something on the power pole out back. It took them a few tries for some reason, but they eventually fixed it.