Dead as a Doornail

I behind in blogging this month, but it's not for lack of effort. Lots of planned posts, many photos (mostly of the yard), but I just haven't found the time.

All those planned posts are going to take a backseat so I can tell you that our AC is dead. Very dead. Really and truly dead.

We'd held out on cranking it up this year for a while to save energy but decided eventually that we should put it on for a particularly hot day or two - both for our comfort and to test it out. And it's good we did. There was air. Plenty of it. But it wasn't cold. We let it run for a while, partly because the cycling air was doing a tolerable job of cooling the house anyway. But there was no denying that the air conditioner wasn't, well, conditioning.

We called our heating and AC people. Yes, we've been in the house long enough that we now have "people." Our roof person, our heating people, our electrician, etc. They promised to send someone out within a few days. That was Monday.

And today they came to take a look. The diagnosis: dead. Not just "maybe we can repair it" dead. Dead dead. There's no pressure in the system AND some animals managed to nibble some wires and move in (see nest picture below). There's no more coolant and apparently, it's 20 years old and the coolant isn't even available anymore. I don't think we need a second opinion on this one. I think we're lucky we've kept it working as long as we have.

So our AC people are going to give us an estimate this weekend for a new one. I guess it involves some work in the air handler area of our attic too, because they mentioned something about needing a small unit up there because of how cramped and tight it is. They are Lennox dealers, so I guess that's what they'll suggest. Anyone have anything good or bad to say about this brand?

Another problem? Approximately a 3 week wait. This is pretty much prime time for AC people.

We are considering getting a second estimate, but I'm not sure it's worth it. We trust this company and, frankly, we're not sure if we want to wait even longer before being able to make it cool in here. Living on the top floor of a Cape Cod is bad even in moderate conditions, so we're in for a few potentially bad weeks. Maybe time to rent/buy a cheap window AC unit?