The joys of being a homeowner...

[next_to_normal]

Heh, so, uh, last night my air conditioner kind of... exploded a little bit? It hasn't been running much, since it's been cooler lately, but last night it started up, and almost immediately, I hear this loud clanking noise. And then, when I go over to the convector to check on it, as soon as I open the top panel, a puff of smoke wafts out, along with a delightful burning smell.

My dad thinks the fan motor broke or something and assures me that it will probably not catch on fire while I am away this weekend. Still, I am wondering whether I should've taught Chelsea how to operate a fire extinguisher.

The other two convector units are fine, which probably has something to do with the fact that they are brand new. Because, when I bought this place, as part of the settlement, the seller had all the units checked and repaired/replaced as necessary, considering that they were all probably at least thirty years old. Two of the three got replaced, but the HVAC technician seemed to think that Smokey McFirestarter in the dining room was just peachy keen! Apparently not.

Anyway, the next time my dad comes down to visit, we'll see if he can fix it.

In other news, it is STILL RAINING. Arks are being discussed. Seriously, yesterday, the creek behind my building was so high it covered the sidewalk! It was back to only-slightly-higher-than-normal levels this morning, though. (Not that it makes a difference to me. I live on the 6th floor, haha.)

Comments

[mikeda.livejournal.com]

So are you completely lacking air conditioning or can the system be run using the two working convectors?

[next_to_normal]

I can get A/C from the other two, so it doesn't need to be fixed right away. Which is good, because that's not happening for a while, haha.

[mikeda.livejournal.com]

So are you completely lacking air conditioning or can the system be run using the two working convectors?

[mikeda.livejournal.com]

OK, I've accidentally sent duplicate messages before, but this is the first time it's happened with a time delay.

[alwaysjbj]

Can't you just turn it off so it can't catch fire? I know your aircons are completely different over there to our ones, but ours have a switch on the main unit so you can turn them off if something goes wrong.

[goldenusagi]

Yeah, or just flip the breakers off, if you're not going to be there and it doesn't matter.

[next_to_normal]

Well, I think Chelsea would probably object to being trapped in the apartment with no A/C, so I just turned that unit off. The other two are still on so she doesn't suffocate. :)

[goldenusagi]

Meh, my cats were fine when my AC broke completely and it was 90 inside.

[next_to_normal]

I'd still rather not take the chance if I don't have to...

[alwaysjbj]

LOL My cats have never seen an air-conditioner. I'm so glad Chelsea is in no danger of catching fire!

[next_to_normal]

And they don't get hot? I mean, I get hot when it's 90 degrees and I'm not wearing a fur coat.

Of course, my apartment gets a lot of direct sunlight, so it gets REALLY hot. Like, ten degrees hotter than it is outside, usually.

It'd maybe be okay if I could open the windows, but with all the rain we've had, I didn't want to take the chance of leaving them open when I wasn't home.

[alwaysjbj]

I'd be worried too if I couldn't open windows for them!

It's funny that most Australian houses don't (or at least didn't until very recently) have air-conditioners... but our houses are designed so that they stay cool...wide verandahs, big windows, open plan, ceiling fans etc... so yeah, of course we get hot when it's 40 degrees and 80% humidity, but I guess you just get used to it.

It's the cold (anything less than 26 degrees lol) I don't deal with well, it's so hard to try to warm the house--we have a fireplace, but while it looks pretty, it doesn't generate much heat, so you spend a lot of time sitting around huddled under blankets and covered in a cat or two.

[next_to_normal]

Weird! Mine's just the opposite - though I don't know if it was intentionally designed to basically be a greenhouse, lol. But I hardly ever turned the heat on in my old apartment because the sunlight kept it so warm, but I blast the A/C all summer.

[next_to_normal]

Yeah, I did turn that unit off, so it should be totally fine. I wouldn't have left Chelsea alone if it wasn't. :-P

[mcmegan]

Probably not catch on fire? And I think a fire extinguisher operating cat would get you viral video status.

[next_to_normal]

Hahaha, I totally want to be famous as the girl with a fire extinguishing cat!

[gabrielleabelle]

Eek! Are you sure Chelsea didn't set the fire? Maybe she's having trouble adjusting to the new place...

[next_to_normal]

Doubtful. She seemed just as confused as I was. :)

(And I think she loves the new place!)

[slaymesoftly]

Welcome to home ownership. :)

I wondered how much water you were getting. Looked pretty wet down that way...

[next_to_normal]

Yep, we got quite a bit. How about you?

[slaymesoftly]

No, we were far enough west to be out of the heavy, sustained downpours. A lot of rain, but just normal, good soaking rain that was badly needed. Someone did dump a lot of buckets on us last night though,...

[urania_calliope]

Oh YIKES!

BTW, can you send some of that rain up here?

[next_to_normal]

Gladly! Now if I could just figure out how to package and ship a rain cloud...