posted
Over the weekend, my air conditioner (central air) started to make a very loud noise. It's kind of a cross between a rattle and a screech. It was still cooling, though, so I wasn't in too much of a hurry to get someone in to take a look at it.
Now, though, it doesn't seem to be cooling very well. My vents in the living room are wide open, but I can barely feel air coming out. And the sound is even louder than normal.
If I call for service tomorrow morning, is there any chance of getting someone to come out same day? Or would I have to wait a day or two? I don't want to go all the way in to work if I can get someone to come out tomorrow. I don't really want to take a full day off, but if I have to, I have to.
In the meantime, any tips for staying cool? I have a box fan, so that's something, at least. I can also open the windows in the library and living room and get some good cross-ventilation. The living room's window is the sliding glass door to the balcony, though. Do you think it would be safe to sleep with it open? I'm on the second floor so it's not very easy for anyone to get to the balcony, but it does make me a bit nervous. Only a bit, though--this is a relatively safe neighborhood.
I don't have a car and it's late, so there's really no way to go to a hotel for the night, unless I call a taxi or go to the very cheap "four-hour nap!" hotel down the block.
If it was just me, I wouldn't worry so much about getting it fixed tomorrow, but I have a cat, and I worry about her being home alone all day in a hot house. That can't be good, especially with the high temperatures we've been getting. And yes, she's an indoor cat. So I think I need to get it fixed tomorrow.
One other question: would the service person need access to the vents, too, or just the unit? One of my bedrooms has pretty much been used as a storage unit, and it's very messy. The vent is right inside the door, but I wouldn't necessarily want anyone to go in the room due to the extreme clutter.
Posts: 1805 | Registered: Jun 1999
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Yes, heat definetly isn't good for the cat... For rabbits a person can use a frozen bottle, but I am not sure if it works for a cat. Perhaps fans facing opposite directions might help a bit... And a block of ice in front of a fan if you can get a block of ice. You sound as messy as I am... I have to work on cleaning before the second inspection.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I live in a suburb of Chicago. I don't know anyone in the business, but there's a air conditioning service place within two blocks of me.
Posts: 1805 | Registered: Jun 1999
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Sounds like the fan's out to me. I know that doesn't do you a whole lot of good, but it sounds like that's the problem.
Posts: 4753 | Registered: May 2002
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Ours has been doing that for aobut a year now. We keep telling them, and they never fix it; all they say is, "sometimes some paper or something gets stuck up there." Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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No more cleaning--they can deal with the messiness. I'm going to K-mart for water and PowerAde, and then I will start calling places. I'm going to try the local place first, and then I will start hitting the "emergency 24-hour AC repair!" places, starting with the closest.
Posts: 1805 | Registered: Jun 1999
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We've never had air conditioning at home. We run fans, yes, but have never had a/c. We, and our pets, seem to do just fine. Keep lots of fresh cool water for the cat and she will be okay.
Of course, it is hotter in the city (where you are) than in the country (where I am) because I can catch more of the wind, and don't have all the heat-reflecting pavement.
It's going to be 101 degrees here today.
Hope you get it fixed soon, xnera, for your own comfort. It is hard to sleep in the heat if you aren't already accustomed to doing so.
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Yeah, I know people can do just fine without an air conditioner. Growing up, we just had a window unit in the kitchen and a window fan in my parent's bedroom. When I was a teenager, I moved into the basement and just had a box fan for sleeping. Usually this was just fine, because the basement was naturally cooler.
I got used to air conditioning, though, so I'm really uncomfortable right now. I don't do well in heat at all. You're right about the breeze thing. If I could get a breeze going through the house I'd probably be just fine. As it is I'm sweaty and feeling ill, which is why I went out and got water and PowerAde this morning so I can stay hydrated.
Raina seems to be taking it fine. She's her normal, active self. Right now she's pouncing at the birdies.
I called the local place. They can send someone out today, but they don't know when. That's fine, as long as it gets fixed today. In the meantime I will watch movies and play Katamari Damacy (I WILL beat Star 7, dammit!). I'm shutting my computer off for the duration, because the heat and humidity can't be good for it.
Posts: 1805 | Registered: Jun 1999
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quote: I'm shutting my computer off for the duration, because the heat and humidity can't be good for it.
Wish I could get my boys to take this fact seriously. They insist on having the computer on all day long during summer, to play -- they just point two fans at it. I keep trying to get them to shut if off during the hottest part of the day. But they ignore me.
Amazingly enough, it hasn't failed yet -- through about five summers or so.
There are most likely two parts your A/C - an indoor unit (air handler) and an outdoor unit (condensing unit). The indoor unit is probably in a closet or attic, and is used for heating and circulating. The outdoor unit provides cooling. It's easier to work on and replace. The indoor unit, depending on where it is, could be a royal pain in the butt to work on.
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Our A/C died yesterday morning, not long after I left for work. It had been flagging for the past week or so, and finally gave up the ghost. Turns out it hadn't been serviced for a long time, and the coils got really dusty which was hard enough on the motor that it seized up. So we got to pay $300 for a new motor; fortunately we rent, so the landlord can just knock it off next month's rent.
Good luck with getting yours fixed; we were lucky and the repair guys were able to get there almost right away. If you're putting your box fan in a window, orient it so it's blowing air OUT the window, not in--that will pull air through your whole apartment, whereas pushing air inside will only cool the first few feet in front of the fan.
Posts: 957 | Registered: Aug 2002
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My ex (before he was my ex) did something like that one year (he could never take the heat very well).
He had a large radiator out of an old car. He set up valves on the input and output lines of the radiator and ran water from our water well (via hose) through the radiator. Then had a fan behind it to blow through the radiator as it circulated the cold water. (we couldn't do a loop - so we have the water, as it left the radiator - go to the garden).
The whole thing sat in the big bedroom window.
Worked pretty good for cooling that room enough so he could sleep. Used a lot of water, however.
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Fixed! It was a bad blower wheel. It's supposed to be in one part, but it broke so that it was in two and they weren't lining up, thus making a horrid noise. Not cheap, but it won't cause me any hardship because I've been saving money recently. Posts: 1805 | Registered: Jun 1999
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Yay! I was actually about to post a recommendation for an AC service (extended family) that by using family connections might have been able to get you in faster.
Posts: 4515 | Registered: Jul 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Farmgirl: Wish I could get my boys to take this fact seriously. They insist on having the computer on all day long during summer, to play -- they just point two fans at it. I keep trying to get them to shut if off during the hottest part of the day. But they ignore me.
Amazingly enough, it hasn't failed yet -- through about five summers or so.
FG
Then maybe it's not such a problem, huh?
If you're considered about your computer's temperature, there's free software you can get to monitor it. You can also try installing better heatsinks or putting more fans in the case. Also, if you have an AMD processor, you can install their Cool 'n' Quiet drivers, which automatically ramps down the CPU frequency and voltage, thus using less power and generating less heat.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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I'm so glad you got it fixed quickly! It's not fun to be without air conditioning - I remember several times in my childhood when the airconditioning would go out and it would take a day or so to get the repairmen out. It would easilly get up to 100 degrees (I live in Phoenix).
Farmgirl - I guess I'm a weirdo. I'm much more concerned about the effect of the heat generated by the computers on the room than I am about the heat's effect on the computer (heating up the room and making it unfun and raising our electric bills with the increased load on the A/C). Besides the software monitoring for your computer temperature, most computers are setup to automatically shut down when they get dangerously hot (to avoid frying things).
Posts: 5879 | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
The radiator and well water thing can work very well, and not use too much water, if you return the water to the well. That's essentially what a water source heat pump does. Also called geothermal heating/cooling.
I've seen systems where people use abandoned wells (old farm style well, not modern drilled well) and put a copper rod down in the center of the well in the winter. The top of the rod has fins, to dissipate heat, and the water freezes around the rod, so the ice doesn't cause heaving in the surrounding soil.
When the weather is warmer than freezing, the fin unit is removed from the top of the rod, to prevent the heat from going back into the well. If it's done right, the entire well is fozen solid.
Then when hot weather comes, water is circulated between the well and a radiator inside the house. Bearing in mind that a "ton" of air conditioning means one ton of water melts per hour, you need a large well, and only use the system when you really need it. But that doesn't mean it doesn't continue to cool even after the ice is melted, since the surrounding earth is usually around 55deg.
I air condition my house by turning on the blower of my forced air unit without the burner. My basement is quite cool (it helps to have a high water table, but that obviously has different problems) and the air coming from the basement will cool the rest of the house on hot days, at least until the end of July. Then again, I'm happy at 78 deg. The only issue is that humidity settles out in the basement, so I need to run a dehumidifier. So it really isn't "free air conditioning."
Posts: 3735 | Registered: Mar 2002
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It was a bad blower wheel. It's supposed to be in one part, but it broke so that it was in two and they weren't lining up, thus making a horrid noise. Not cheap, but it won't cause me any hardship because I've been saving money recently. ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
