Saturday, April 25, 2015

April 25 – “It’s a lemon”

Well, the air conditioner repair guys were back yesterday.  When they knocked on the front door I hollered out to them, “Come on in.  You’re here all the time, so you’re part of the family now.”  All I got back was a nervous chuckle.  Guess he wasn’t sure how to take his on-the-spot adoption. 

So on to the problem at hand.  About three weeks ago we had another issue with the unit not spewing out cold air.  The guys came over, bringing the big boss with them this time, I might add.  After an extended search using two of their cold air escaping meters, they finally located yet another leak.  This one was in the coils, then guts of the machine.  Fortunately, it was still under warranty, so they ordered us a replacement and vowed to call when it came in.  in the meantime they put some kind of bandaid on it and refilled the Freon reservoir.

About a week ago the secretary did indeed call.  I was pretty excited to see the number on caller ID.  Sadly, she thought I was someone else.  No part just yet.  But she assured me she would call when it got there.  That call finally came on Wednesday evening.  They would be here with the new part sometime after 9 a.m. the next morning.

Sure enough, they arrived, huge part in hand.  It was almost as big as one of those small refrigerators you had in your college dorm room.  I say “you” because I never had one.  They spent the next three or four hours disassembling the old one and installing the new one.  And when they left, they assured us all was well.  Indeed, the cold air was back.  Perhaps now the efficiency would improve as well.

Until the next morning.  Yesterday when we woke up Chris heard a dripping sound that was foreign to her ears.  She managed to track it to the AC closet.  Sure enough, the wooden base upon which the entire AC/heating system sat was drenched and water was dripping into the base pan that sits on the foundation of the house.  Wonderful.  I called the company back.  After three or four busy signals, I finally managed an answering machine and left a message about our plight.  That was a first.  I had always managed to get a human being when I called.  Could this mean they were already done for the weekend?  My cynical side answered that one right away … probably.

Later on in the afternoon Kel and his family came over to tell us about their vacation to Glorieta, New Mexico, and to pick up their animals who had been living with us while they were gone.  Oh, and to join us in Friday pizza night, of course.  Didn’t take long for the house to become home to a steady drone of noise.  Rockets game on TV.  Rousing game of baseball in the kitchen.  Christina and Chris talking at the table.  Noa investigating all my “Jesus oddities” collection in the study. 

And finally, around 6:30, there came a knock at the door.  It was the AC repair guys branch of the family.  They went right to work, reinvestigating all their connections and re-insulating and taping and calking.  Their final diagnosis this time was a small place they had missed taping before.  The cold air inside the tube was mixing with the hot air in the closet and condensing into water all over the bottom of the cabinet.  They assured us all was dry now and should remain so.  We’ll see.  I think we may have a lemon on our hands.

Exodus 15:13 says, In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed.  In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.”


Father, thank you for the lemonade of new AC repairman friends.  Amen.

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