The Cooler Side of Life

So, life here in the Midwest had been pretty toasty lately. Downright stifling. People ask "Don't you have central air?" My response "Hahahaha." We have boiler heat through radiators so there isn't the duct work for central air. Our humble abode came equipped with two large air-conditioning units - one in the living room window and one upstairs built into the wall of the future baby's room. Not a one in our bedroom. And this is not the summer for sleeping in the heat...due to being my own oven with a bun inside.

Memorial Day Solution? Home Depot + parents visiting = project. 

Got to love Home Depot... 

and Chris and Jack who install new a/c units in your bedroom!

 Making sure it stays on the second floor is always good!

Nice work guys! Now, you may have noticed, the only problem is the 48" wide blind stops above the a/c unit...leaving plenty of window, um, very visible.  I temporarily taped paper in the gap because, hey, it works. Looks terrible (except that it's cute scrapbooking paper) and I'll probably head out to look for two separate blinds to fit this weekend. But honestly, it depends how much the taped-paper look really gets to me. 

When we were at the great Home Depot, my pops decided they were going to purchase a lil' unit for the "guest room"...which he and my mom were going to be inhabiting that night. Maybe they did not want a sauna experience. Either way, we were happy about it! 

By now, Chris and Jack are pros at a/c unit installation.

Third time's a charm. This one is actually the third unit they've teamed up on. The first one was in the heat of the summer in our 450 square foot apartment in Champaign, IL.

 Well, you have to make sure it works right? 

Just for the record, we do not put everybody to work that comes to visit us...just a few lucky ones. And, they offered.

Push that button and poof....heat.

So I just spoke with Gordon, my heating/cooling hero, who literally just walked in his door from vacation. He was going to run down here before a birthday party he had to go to this evening but it ended up that after he told me what button to press to reset the boiler, of course, it worked right away! Cost of repair = FREE. Seriously, this is a business that understands customer service.

Just to be clear, Craig and I did try the same reset button yesterday 2-3 times. But that's the way things always go. Just like when you tell the mechanic the car noise you've been hearing for weeks and the car doesn't do it for them. I'm just glad it works now! Gordon's number is permanently programmed into my phone and I will most likely not be bothering with the warranty for heating repairs. Appliances? Yes. Water heater that's 15 years old and probably about to die? Yes.

Heating woes....

Ah, boilers. Our knowledge of these beasts is sketchy which posed a bit of a problem yesterday upon returning home from Michigan. We turned the gas to the boiler back on, lit the pilot, raised the thermostat and wait for it, wait for it....okay, stop waiting. Nothing happened. In theory, the burner is supposed to light up when the thermostat is set higher than current indoor temperature heating the water which then flows through the pipes and radiators thus heating the house. The sellers bought a home warranty for us which basically means if things break (plumbing, heating, appliances, etc) we pay a flat fee of $60 per visit to the professionals that the warranty company contracts with and they fix what is needed. If the cost of the repair is over $60 it saves us money to use the warranty.

I called the house warranty company and finally got in touch with the heating/cooling "professional" they contract with in the area. He was condescending given that I do not have a Y chromosome and would not be able to come out until Monday. He said he'd call me Monday morning to see what time. Really, we can't plan ahead? Oh yeah, and the temp is supposed to be low of 40 this weekend. Awesome. I know it is Friday afternoon at this point but seriously?

Being pro-active and a bit ticked off, I dig out the copy of the bill that the sellers gave us at closing to show work had been done...and found the name of their heating/cooling guy, Gordon. Left message with address, problem, etc. When I hadn't heard back from Gordon by Friday night, my father-in-law tried to trouble-shoot and help my figure out the system. (Oh yeah, Chris had to leave for work about 10 minutes after we figured out we had a problem, therefore, I was left in charge to *handle* the issue.) I read through the gas burner conversion manual (circa 1954) with no new ideas; however, now I know what parts are what. So, we decided to use a few borrowed space-heaters and dig out more blankets and long underwear for the night.

We survived Friday night (obviously, since I am writing this on Saturday) and awoke to a phone call from Gordon's wife saying they were sorry they didn't get back to us sooner but they were out of town yesterday (and still were). She said they'd be back in the early afternoon and would call me then to help us out. Get this, she said Gordon may be able to help me over the phone if it was because we weren't familiar with the system because he was very familiar with our boiler and has been doing all the maintenance on it for years. Years. Wonderful. This is what I love about small towns and small businesses. They get to know you (the previous owners and soon to be us) and they are friendly, providing good customer service. Too many people do not realize the importance of customer service. Even if you are cheaper, if you are condescending and don't even pretend to care I will take my money and business elsewhere even if I have to pay more.

I am currently waiting for Gordon's call, cleaning up the place so he doesn't think we trashed the place...since he has previous visits to compare it too. Hopefully, it will be something simple.