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VIEWPOINT

By RALPH HARDIN

Evening Times Editor A fter a relatively cool May, June has brought the heat … and of course, that’s when my air conditioning went out. Yes, last Friday afternoon as we were gathering around the dinner table, I said, “Does it seem warm in here?”

Both of my sons are home visiting for the summer, with their wives and their dogs, so we’ve got a full house … not an idea time for the ol’ A/C to go on the fritz.

But I went and checked the thermostat, and while it was set on 71 degrees, it was 74 degrees in the house. Now, I know that’s not a big difference and I know that 74 degrees is still not really that warm, but my body just started panic sweating at the thought of the air conditioner failing.

It was running. There was air coming out of the vents. The big fan in the backyard was spinning. It just wasn’t cold. I did all of the very basic things I have learned to do when this sort of thing happens. I checked the air filter (clean). I checked the drain pan (no standing water). I inspected the line that sometimes freezes up (it wasn’t frozen up). I turned the main breaker off and back on (no help).

I feel a little silly freaking out over the lack of air conditioning. I grew up in a house with only a single window unit to cool the whole house. Other than that, it was strategically- opened windows. And we survived. Like that Kenny Chesney song “American Kids,” we had “MTV on the RCA, no A/C in the vents,” and we survived.

With no other recourse, I put in a call to my go-to heating and air guy and left him a message. In the meantime, I could only watch as the thermostat clicked up to 75 … then 76 … then 77. And look, I’m no weenie, but 77 degrees indoors with no air moving is uncomfortable, especially with seven sets of eyes (12 if you count the animals) looking at you with their “get this fixed” faces.

Luckily, we live in an old house, and the original owners had three window units installed back in the day and somehow, these ancient units still work, so we made it through the night with those things chugging angrily along. It still never got below 75 in the house, but they did keep it from hitting 80.

My guy was out first thing Saturday morning and I followed him around as he dutifully inspected the situation inside and outside. I am actually quite fascinated with how things like heating and cooling units work, so I’m always interested in watching the system checks and tests play out.

After surmising that everything looked like it should, he popped the top on the outside unit and the problem seemed pretty obvious. A thick red wire had burned through. Knowing from ’80s action movies you should never cut the red wire, I knew that was no good. He agreed. He said that particular red wire went to the compressor, which I assumed was important.

He concurred that it was and then took out one of those cool tools that professional people always seem to have and did a little snippy-snip and quickly reattached the wire. He then flipped the breaker back on and sure enough, the unit kicked right on.

I thanked him and paid him and went back in to enjoy some nice cool air, which I was able to to … for about two hours. It was then that I thought, “Does it seem warm in here?” for the second time in two days.

And, sadly, it was warm again. Back up to 75 already. I called my man back, but he was unavailable after a long hot day, so I called another local professional who was available.

He came right out and that red wire had burned through again. To address this, he took out a bag filled with even more cool tools, with gauges and clips and monitors tied to his iPad. I don’t know how HVAC guys did it back in the day, but this guy was tackling the issue 21st century style. He checked the voltage and the air flow and the coolant levels and a bunch of other stuff. The best part was that he not only welcomed my curiosity but took the time to explained what each tool did and what the “good” numbers were on the readouts and what he was doing to fix my “bad” numbers on my system.

It turned out to be an issue with a capacitor, which I only know from Back to the Future and the “flux capacitor,” so even after his explanation, I’m not 100 percent sure what that meant, but I did get to watch him replace two small capacitors with one large capacitor and when he did, the air conditioner was up and running again.

And as of now, it has been three days and the red wire is holding, the cold air is blowing, and I’m not having any late night flashbacks to sleeping with the windows open and the box fan blowing.

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