Service?

My mornings start early, and yesterday was no exception.  It's no fun to start a morning by stepping into the laundry room, where the A/C unit is in the utility closet, and feel water.

It's happened for years, for many reasons, but i knew rain was not the cause, as it hasn't rained that much and i could hear the water dripping in the utility closet.

Ouch.  We live in a swamp, and summer can be awful without cool air.  Yes, people lived through summers here for years and years without it.  Yes, i'm pretty heat tolerant (until even i get so hot that my heart trouble bothers me).  Yes, we have limped through a couple of summers with only the one small room with the room unit A/C working and no central.  It's still not pleasant, and we are just not used to it.

So i put in the call early to the home warranty company to get on their list.  They then contact a local contractor, who is supposed to call me.

Only, the local contractor never called.  Not even a call to ask for information, much less to set up a service call.

We are blessed that Sweetie's work has an in house guy who used to work with an A/C company.  He comes each summer and cleans the outdoor unit, and tests it, and makes sure we are good for the summer, and for a lot less than a regular company charges.  When Sweetie told Kurt what was going on, he told us it had a simple solution, and offered to come by after work to fix it.

Now, i rather knew what the problem could be, or might be, because our old unit used to do this.  It meant a drain was clogged, and that it needed to be blown out and have some bleach poured down it to keep it clear.  When the old unit used to clog, i would dig out the garden hose, hook it up to the drain hose, and turn the water on.  That would clear it out every time.

With this unit, though, i'd never been shown how to access or clear the drain, which is a PVC pipe and not a hose, anyway.  So i decided to wait for someone to show me.

By the time Kurt got off work at 3:30pm, i still hadn't heard from the service contractor, but i hadn't canceled the call.  He came over, showed me how to clear the drain, put in the bleach, we changed the filter, and in under 20 minutes i had cool air again.

While bailing out the drip pan into the sump pump, we also managed to test the pump, and it worked great, also.  At least i now know it's still in good shape, if we ever do need it.

Instead of a deductible for a service call, i gave Kurt the $20 he asked for and told him that Sweetie will also treat him to lunch one day this week at work.  It's worth it, the deductible is much more than that.

Then i called the warranty company and told them, politely, that their contractor never even bothered to call me, and that i was not best pleased with their service.  Also that i no longer needed the service that day, and that it was a good thing, too, as i was not enjoying the symptoms i was beginning to have.

Today, i am very grateful that, although i spent a most unpleasant afternoon being so hot that i couldn't even cook, our A/C is working again, and i now know how to clear the drain myself, and keep it clear.



Today is

Always Live Better Than Yesterday Day

Cotton Candy Day

Feast of St. Ignatius Loyola -- (Founder of the Jesuits, especially revered in Spain; Patron of retreats, soldiers, and the Society of Jesus which he founded; Basque country; Bilbao, Spain; Bizkaia, Spain; Gipuzkoa, Spain; Guipuscoa, Spain; Guipúzcoa, Spain; Spiritual Exercises (by Pope Pius XI); Vizcaya, Spain)

Friendship Festival -- Lathrop, Missouri, US (this year's theme is "Mule Dynasty"; through Saturday)

Hachinohe Sansha Taisai -- Hachinohe City, Japan (one of the most elaborate neputa festivals, through Aug. 4)

Halifax International Busker Festival -- Halifax, NS, Canada (with  action packed, mind blowing shows from around the globe; through August 5)

Jump for Jellybeans Day

Ka Hae Hawai'i Day -- Hawai'i (State Flag Day)

Lammas Eve / Lughnassad Eve

Lithasblot -- Norse harvest festival with a "blot", or offering, to the gods, celebrated through tomorrow

Loki and Sigyn's Day - Asatru / Norse Pagan (aka Devoted Couples Day)

Maine Lobster Festival -- Rockland, ME, US (more fun than a lobster can shake a tail at; through Sunday)

Make Homemade Ice Cream and Invite the Neighbors Over Day -- summer's almost over, make the most of the days we have left!

Moby Dick Marathon -- aboard the last US wooden whaler, the Charles W. Morgan, Mystic Seaport, Mystic, CT, US (through tomorrow, from noon to noon, a marathon reading of Moby Dick in honor of Melville's birthday)

Mutts' Day -- because mutts deserve a day as much as purebreeds do!

National Raspberry Cake Day

St. Germanus' Day (Patron of Auxerre, France)

St. Joseph of Arimathea's Day -- Eastern Orthodox Church (Patron of funeral directors)


Birthdays Today

Eric Lively, 1981
Dean Cain, 1966
J.K. Rowling, 1965
Jim Corr, 1964
Wesley Snipes, 1962
Bill Berry, 1958
Michael Biehn, 1956
Evonne Goolagong, 1951
Barry Van Dyke, 1951
Geraldine Chaplin, 1944
Ted Cassidy, 1932
Curt Gowdy, 1919
Milton Friedman, 1912


Today in History

Mark Antony achieves a minor victory over Octavian's forces, but most of his army subsequently deserts, leading to his suicide, BC30
The oldest recorded eruption of Mt. Fuji, 781
Thessalonica falls to the Arabs, who destroy the city, 904
The Jews are expelled from Spain when the Alhambra Decree takes effect, 1492
On his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus
becomes the first European to discover the island of Trinidad, 1498
Aurangzeb is proclaimed Moghul emperor of India, 1658
The Treaty of Breda ends the Second Anglo-Dutch War, 1667
Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory for the crime of seditious libel after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet, but is pelted with flowers, 1703
The U.S. Second Continental Congress passes a resolution that the services of Marquis de Lafayette  "be accepted, and that, in consideration of his zeal, illustrious family and connexions[sic], he have the rank and commission of major-general of the United States," 1777
First U.S. patent is issued to inventor Samuel Hopkins for a potash process, 1790
Christchurch, New Zealand is chartered as a city, 1856
The first narrow gauge mainline railway in the world opens at Grandchester, Australia, 1865
The radio mystery program The Shadow is aired for the first time, 1930
Archaeologists discover engraved gold and silver plates from King Darius in Persepolis, 1938
First ascent of K2, by an Italian expedition led by Ardito Desio, 1954
At Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, the first All-Star Game tie in major league baseball history occurs when the game is stopped in the 9th inning because of rain, 1961
The last day of the officially sanctioned rum ration in the Royal Navy, 1970
Apollo 15 astronauts become the first to ride in a lunar rover, 1971
NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo, 1976
A rare, class F4 tornado rips through Edmonton, Alberta, killing 27 people and causing $330 million in damage, 1987
Georgia joins the United Nations, 1992
Fidel Castro hands over power temporarily to brother Raúl Castro, 2006
Operation Banner, the presence of the British Army in Northern Ireland, and the longest-running British Army operation ever, comes to an end, 2007