I haven't been doing much in the way of home projects, but as usual, there's always something that needs attention around here. Homes can really be an albatross sometimes.
Back in 2007 I acquired a brand new central air conditioner / heater package unit. It is a pretty $6000 box that sits on my roof and makes it possible to live on the desert. It is a high efficiency unit that was supposed to save me an enormous amount of money... except I put in a pool the same year and the pool pumps ate up the electricity savings of the A/C, and then some.
In spring 2008 I did the responsible thing and had the service guy come and do the "system check" that we are supposed to do each season. As I understand it they are supposed to check the temperature of the air going in, the air coming out, clean the coils, check the current flow... blah, blah, blah. I assumed he did.
In spring 2009 I didn't get around to having the guy come. It's been bothering me, but not enough to call them.
Lately I've noticed that the house is really dusty. Every time I change the filter it is horribly dirty... but that is what I expect on the desert, especially since I have four dogs that roll in the dirt and come in the house to shake it off. I even noticed that there is dirt coming out of the duct work! I don't know if it is related to the dirty coils, but I thought I should check things out.
I don't really know what I'm doing, but I know that the coils are supposed to be cleaned. I have a flat roof and I went up to see if this was something I could figure out. Glad I did.
First of all, the guy that came here last spring didn't do shit. He didn't even take the cover off. He sprayed some cleaner crap up through the louvers and pretended it actually did something - which it did not. When I took the louvers off the coils were a freaking dirt pile.
I thought I could fix it with some no-rinse coil cleaner. No, even with the cover off it was clear that a hose was necessary. Not only that, I pissed off some bees and the next thing I knew I had a bee sting on my chin! Ugh.
I started to feel funny. I had chills, felt shaky, basically felt weird. I figured I'd better get down to the inside and put something on the sting. It hurt like hell. I put some sting stuff on it, a little ice, and decided I had to go back up before it got dark. I made Thing 1 come up and babysit me in case more bees attacked me or I had some allergic reaction... I think I've only been stung once before.
I took the hose up there and rinsed. Oh boy, what a filthy mess. Also, another pissed off bee. It didn't catch me to sting me, but I'm lucky I didn't fall off the edge of the roof running from it!
It got dark before I could put the A/C back together, so tomorrow, assuming the bees leave me the hell alone, I'll clean a little more and put it back together.
I learned what an aluminum spine fin coil is. I learned how to clean one (I guess), and I learned that there may be pissed off bees up there somewhere. Most importantly, I learned that you can't trust anyone to work at your house unless you watch them. Almost every time I hire someone to do something around here I feel disappointed, or else I have to babysit and ask "dumb" questions so that they know I'm paying attention. I ask you, if you have to go up on the roof in the heat to watch someone work so that they actually do something they are supposed to do, why not just do it yourself and save the money?
I'll tell you why, it's a pain in the ass job, bee stings hurt, and I'm sick of being the fix it queen! That's why!
That reminds me of a funny story. I was at my niece's house the other night having some drinks with she a few of her neighbors. One of her neighbors is a plumber - Geno. Geno is a heck of a nice guy. He, and most everyone my niece talks to, knows that I'm handy. I have a reputation, I guess... not sure it is a good thing, but it is what it is. Anyway, I asked Geno for his business card because a water pipe out by the chickens has a leaky joint. I was telling Geno that I can't sweat pipes to save my soul. I've tried and tried and it never works. Then I tried to hire someone to do it for me and two months later it is leaking again. (See, this is an example of me hiring someone to fix something that wasn't fixed right.)
God bless him, Geno says, "I'll teach you. I'll teach you how to sweat pipes. It is just a matter of a few tricks and then it is easy. I'll teach you." Then he went on to explain that it is important to not use old flux, and that the stuff at Home Depot is no good, and that the pipes have to be super clean and dry, etc...
I didn't tell him that I read all that but I'm still not a professional and have had little practice, and that it is hot out there even without a torch in your hand, and that I'm terribly allergic to the ants that come to the leaking water, find me and bite me, then I'm up all night for a week suffering. I didn't want to offend him and tell him that I hate his job and that I don't want to be a plumber... so I said thanks.
See? Not only can I not find anyone to come do the work around here the right way, if I actually try to hire someone that will do the work and do it right, they want to teach me to do it myself!
Albatross. The house is my freaking albatross.
I'm still thankful to have one, though.
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