Hot as Texas

Honestly, compared to last August, the weather has been almost balmy. The highs have been in the low 90s, the lows have dipped into the 70s. It has been almost pleasant.

However, just as the temperature threatened to go back to triple digits, our a/c went on the fritz. It has been warning us for awhile. It started blowing hot air a few weeks ago. Mr. Kittle, the a/c man came by, found corrosion in our 40 year old thermostat, cleaned it up and pronounced it all okay.

A week or so again it happened again. This time DH cleaned up the thermostat and tightened some wires. It seemed to have worked again.

That is it worked until Monday. Mr. Kittle has been by our house no less than 5 times in the past 3 days. First he replaced the thermostat. It lasted an hour or two. He came back and pronounced it the fan motor, promising to be back in the morning. First night without a/c.

DH did some investigating and decided it was not the fan motor, but the contacter. Mr. Kittle didn't agree but replaced it. It lasted an hour or two. DH called FIL, the electrical contractor, and got his and his co-workers opinions. He went into the attic and tightened some wire connections. It lasted an hour or two. (Notice the trend.) Mr. Kittle came back and found that the new contacter was closed tight and not opening. (Whatever that means.) He promised to come back in the morning. Second night without a/c.

Mr. Kittle couldn't come today until about 3pm. All day without a/c.

Mr. Kittle and DH investigated, went in the attic, investigated more, decided it was definitely an electrical issue and that the rats' nest of wiring to the furnace and the coil made it an impossible task to fix. We have to replace the two very old units up in the attic with one unit. (Whatever that means) Because we're replacing two with one, we have to re-do electrical, gas and the duct work. Not easy and not cheap.

Mr. Kittle can't do all of that by himself, he needs his helpers. He's hoping that they are available on Tuesday. Third night without a/c.

We're making do. Luckily after the first night without a/c, I bought clip on fans to blow directly onto boys' faces. They are happy.  Well, happier, it is still hot.




The Osark came out in DH. He rigged up his "homemade swamp cooler" for our bedroom. That is a laundry basket with computer text books (finally coming in handy) with a fan, behind a chair with a big box and a roasting pan full of ice water. It didn't work. The ice melted almost immediately.


Luckily we have plans for Labor Day weekend. We'll only have to suffer through a bit longer.