Our AC is an antique, as AC units go in the desert. It’s at least 16 years old, and may be original to the house – which was built in the 1990s. This beast died last summer and fortunately was a relatively inexpensive fix. I think we paid something like $300 for the actual repair, plus $1200 to add another duct line into the kitchen and living room.
We knew then it wouldn’t last a lot longer. I frankly was surprised it survived for the rest of the summer, much less through winter and into the warmer season this year. (It’s a heat pump so also our heat source.) Sunday afternoon it kind of keeled over. We turned it off for the next few days, since it was literally cooler with the windows open and the ceiling fans going.
It’s not the hottest part of the year yet, thankfully. We still have cool nights and mornings, cool enough to need a light blanket in the wee hours. But afternoons have crept into the 90s and it hit 100 a couple of days ago. Not the worst, but definitely not optimal to be without working AC. We were lucky enough to be out of the house yesterday for most of the day. Both G and I had routine doctor’s appointments in the Phoenix area, so we decided to go early and spent the day in the car, the doctor’s office, a few thrift stores, and so on. When we got home, because we’d been out all day and all electronics were inactive, it wasn’t too miserable in the house. And today the temperature was lower outside, which helped.
The AC guy arrived this morning and slapped on an electronic bandaid. We should find out tomorrow how much it’ll cost us to get a new AC unit, and fingers crossed the bandaid holds a few more days until we can get the replacement installed. For the moment it’s nice and cool inside, but it sounds like there’s a helicopter hovering a few hundred feet over the house.
There was a time in my life this would have been catastrophic. We were living paycheck to paycheck, with no credit cards, no savings, no nothing. We had times when paycheck to paycheck would’ve been a huge step up.
Now, thank goodness, we’re in a drastically better position. Coughing up a few thousand still a financial ouch, but more like a scraped-knee ouch than a partial decapitation ouch. And we’re philosophical about it. A new AC is a major selling point, if/when we move. That in combination with my determination to landscape our yard will do wonders for the property value. I hope it does, anyway.
I hope the new AC isn’t a shock. It is really important when the temperatures get so high as they do this time of year. I hope all goes well. BTW, my original FB account was hacked. I have a new one with the same name. Hope you will accept my friend request.