The AC unit is dead--and nearly took the house with it!

While we were out on the road, we got a call from Donald--the AC unit died.

We got home at 11 on Friday night. I tried calling the AC repairman--to my amazement (since they didn't with American Home Shield), they came on a Saturday!

To make a long story short, the problem is that the cutoff switch basically fried itself. It's not clear whether it burned, blew up, or simply melted. One thing is sure--it very nearly burned the house down: what was left was clearly charred. The outside unit has been nothing but trouble since we got it--ever since American Home Shield had it installed in 1997, we've had an average of at least one heating or AC failure each year. It was clear they only paid for the cheapest unit possible and they installed a piece of junk. The failure of the unit in 2004 is why we finally dumped the company, and the cutoff switch that the outside unit overloaded was installed in 2005. (That was because of a crooked repairman: he said that it wasn't safe to work on the unit without a cutoff switch, and that he could install it for a couple of hundred extra. When I asked him to sign a paper to the effect of the work being substandard, he backtracked--we still needed the switch installed, but all of a sudden, he couldn't install it; we'd need to get an electrician.)

The repairman today recommended that we replace the outside unit, saying he thought it overloaded the cutoff switch. Since it has caused so many problems--including an obviously serious one this week, I agreed to replace it. We're even getting a new cutoff switch and a new thermostat thrown into the deal.

And good riddance to the old unit!