The week when the A/C Unit Died

It was an untimely death.  The A/C unit broke earlier this week, and it was a good 5 days until we got it fixed.  It started to go Monday night, and by Tuesday night, we were struggling to cool down the house from the HOT Atlanta day.  

Turns out, the poor thing froze up from a lack of refrigerant, due to a giant leak somewhere in the main coil.  “She” (as I give genders to large purchases and units) was 14 years old, a builder-grade unit installed when the house was built.  The previous homeowners replaced the motherboard in the unit, but it continued to pump barely-cooled air into our home for the last few years.  When we have a party of more than 10 people, we BAKE. 

The house was 89 degrees, routinely, during the day. I managed to use 6 box fans and pedestal fans, bowls of ice and road trips to keep us chilled out. 

Long and frequent bath times helped out.    More ice than tea? Yes, please!  Many fans, open doors and windows with bug screens.  Shirtless dinners with cool entrees. Freezer pops from the Target $1 section!  Even the Doo couldn’t get relief. He snuggled the fans, and mostly laid in the grass.

After we baked for a few days, our a/c tech told us that the unit couldn’t be fixed – and if it could, we’d be pouring dollars into a clunker, filling it with freon over and over.  So, we waved bye-bye. 

And then “Hello!” to CoolRay.  They were so nice, prompt, courteous, clean, well mannered, and professional.  If you’re in the Metro Atlanta Area, and need ANY heating or cooling services, call them! From now on, as long as we get a yearly checkup, all service, parts, etc are guaranteed for LIFE. 🙂

They installed “The Queen” as I call it.  She’s enormous.  And efficient. And energy star- certified.  A Trane unit, it’s got 2 stage cooling, and will pay for itself in 3 years.  But that initial pricetag was still a doozy…  And you’ve got to see this: when Hubs did, he nearly had a heart attack.  A true scale to show how large she is: We had ONE of the smaller units for our house (same that the neighbor has) and now we have the Queen. BIG difference 🙂  We’re so much happier.  And cooler!