Air conditioning

Our Trane central AC broke down two weeks ago. It was 18 or 19 years old. Three AC guys told me it was not worth repairing it as parts are getting scarce and the refrigerant is obsolete. For the last two weeks we’ve been getting by with a window unit in the bedroom. Thankfully it’s been bearable in these parts! Today we had a new Rheem unit installed. Just in time too. I’m hearing that a heat wave and bad air quality will set in for up to a week, starting tomorrow. Stay cool everybody!

    

Much of the South and Midwest are practically uninhabitable without A/C!
2 weeks without A/C?  I'd be living in a hotel until it got fixed.
You were latitude-lucky, Charlie!
Glad you got it fixed before you ran out of menthol shaving cream.
- Bax

(08-10-2021, 12:04 PM)chazt Wrote: Our Trane central AC broke down two weeks ago. It was 18 or 19 years old. Three AC guys told me it was not worth repairing it as parts are getting scarce and the refrigerant is obsolete. For the last two weeks we’ve been getting by with a window unit in the bedroom. Thankfully it’s been bearable in these parts! Today we had a new Rheem unit installed. Just in time too. I’m hearing that a heat wave and bad air quality will set in for up to a week, starting tomorrow. Stay cool everybody!

    

Fortunately, I have 2 friends in HVAC. It doesn't surprise me that parts get phased out. The heatwave is coming, so you really did limbo under the carpet on this one!!!

Good deal - it's funny to recall that I never slept in AC until grad school where the last joint had a box in the wall ..  now it seems mandatory

Central A/C is essential in South Florida.  Our house has two A/C zones with separate units, and we are having one replaced next week.  It runs and cools fine, but is leaking water and is at the end of its useful life.

Ours drips condensation... off of the condenser coil.  But I didn't know A/C used water!  Unless it's one of those mysterious "swamp coolers" I've heard about!
- Bax

(08-10-2021, 12:12 PM)Bax Wrote: Much of the South and Midwest are practically uninhabitable without A/C!
2 weeks without A/C?  I'd be living in a hotel until it got fixed.
You were latitude-lucky, Charlie!
Glad you got it fixed before you ran out of menthol shaving cream.
- Bax

Bax, the temps here were for the most part in the 80s or lower for much of that time. Yeah, we were lucky alright! As far as menthol is concerned, I love the stuff! With a half dozen backups to my working Snake Bite puck, I’m definitely good to go as they say. Btw, a splash of Snake Bite in the afternoon, or before the evening walk is very refreshing!

Here in Denmark it’s now only low 70’s, perfect summer weather for a Dane.

We had low to mid 80’s for 3-4 weeks in July and early August, and I hated it.

High heat is disgusting in my opinion.

I still consider getting A/C in our bedroom.
But the wife gets sick from it.

I live in the home town of Trane.  My Son-in-Law is an engineer at Trane.
I think it’s interesting that your Trane AC unit lasted almost 20 years and you replaced it with a Rheem.
AC has also improved dramatically over the years.
Obviously we don’t use CFCs any more, but all AC units are also significantly more efficient.
Thank God for AC!
(It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity…)

(08-11-2021, 06:23 AM)PATRIOT Wrote: I live in the home town of Trane.  My Son-in-Law is an engineer at Trane.
I think it’s interesting that your Trane AC unit lasted almost 20 years and you replaced it with a Rheem.
AC has also improved dramatically over the years.
Obviously we don’t use CFCs any more, but all AC units are also significantly more efficient.
Thank God for AC!
(It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity…)

Trane was my first choice for replacement, however the company has a supply problem in the NY metro area.

Yes. It’s the heat    (and humidity).

It sounds like I need to vacation in Denmark! I could go for some of that low 70s!!!
-Bax

I'm glad you got it fixed.  I live in central Texas and work outside most of the day so I look forward to my air conditioned house after work.  This summer has actually been mild for us.  It's only broken 100 a few times.  I would still rather have a Texas summer than Georgia summer; that heat and humidity combination is horrible.

(08-11-2021, 08:17 AM)DannyZ Wrote: I'm glad you got it fixed.  I live in central Texas and work outside most of the day so I look forward to my air conditioned house after work.  This summer has actually been mild for us.  It's only broken 100 a few times.  I would still rather have a Texas summer than Georgia summer; that heat and humidity combination is horrible.

I worked for 21+ years in a small unairconditioned office in a 60 year old school building. The two windows opened 3” at the bottom and about 6” from the top. Rules and regulations did not allow the principal or custodian to do anything about AC or the windows. For the first 10 years there, the radiator had a broken/nonadjustable valve. The radiator was on the same line as the hot water boiler for the kitchen. When the kitchen had hot water, I had heat. It literally took the department of education 10 years to fix the valve (it took them close to 20 years to repair the fire doors in the hallways!). Like you, I relished coming home to my air conditioned house.

A few weeks ago I learned something new. it's called a heat dome.

Europe is seeing temps above 115F with regularity. the air conditioning is in major chain hotels. Like in the Northwest US, A/C was deemed unnecessary as temps rarely approached 90F and never stayed there long. Many have died from heat or fire caused by the dryness the heat creates.

Today in Connecticut the temp will be in the mid 90sF. heat index over 100F. a hot August week. 

ALL Praise the central air and its noisy vents. Singing a hymn to my ears.

I got my first vehicle with A/c in 1988.  Seldom used it. 
Then moved to San Antonio. 
Couldn't live WITHOUT it in that climate!
- Bax

Wow Bax, you got me thinking - I think that the 69 T-Bird had AC (my fourth car), but like some other features didn't work by the time I purchased the car.  So I started ticking through the years & recalled a Pinto that had Dealer Installed AC hanging under the AM radio.  That worked about as well as the T-Bird's.  So my first AC car was a 1979 Bronco ..

Then again, gary, it was a pinto. So I don't you have very high expectations of that one in the first place!
;-)
I had a Volkswagen once that had so many rust holes the wind was always blowing through. That almost counts as air conditioning, right?
-Bax

(08-12-2021, 11:47 AM)garyg Wrote: Wow Bax, you got me thinking - I think that the 69 T-Bird had AC (my fourth car), but like some other features didn't work by the time I purchased the car.  So I started ticking through the years & recalled a Pinto that had Dealer Installed AC hanging under the AM radio.  That worked about as well as the T-Bird's.  So my first AC car was a 1979 Bronco ..

(08-12-2021, 01:20 PM)Bax Wrote: Then again, gary, it was a pinto. So I don't you have very high expectations of that one in the first place!  
;-)
I had a Volkswagen once that had so many rust holes  the wind was always blowing through. That almost counts as air conditioning, right?
-Bax

Nope, that baby crap yellow Pinto was my first new car .. it was the Cleveland Browns Special Edition - which consisted of an AM radio & a brown & orange strip applied to the side by the same jamoke that charged the AC ..


Me driving it off Bodecker Hill was the prelude to the Bronco mentioned