For two weeks, the heating system in my condo in New Jersey hasn't worked. The guy was _supposed_ to be back here yesterday to install a new circuit board in the compressor unit on the roof, but it was raining, and, lo an behold, he didn't show up to go work on the roof where the heat pump is located. Gee, who could have guessed he'd have a "family emergency?"
It started over summer. The heat pump we had installed just two years ago, stopped cooling the house. TWO YEARS the thing lasted. One month OUT of Warranty!
So my wife calls me in Pennsylvania, and tells me we need a new heat pump compressor and it's going to cost between $5,000 and $6000.
I tell her to go ahead and get the work done. She does. The cooling is restored, all is well.
FOUR MONTHS later, the cooling stops working. She calls the guys who installed it, they come and look.
A "filter/Drier" on the freon line is frozen-over. Clogged. Maybe dirt, gack, or gunk in the freon line, but the filter/drier did it's job and kept it out of the compressor.
It took a few days to get a replacement. They came and replaced it, cooling restored.
We get to two weeks ago, and the house seems cold. We turn the heat up, no heat.
We call the guys from the HVAC company back. They come. This time, it's the TWO YEAR OLD air handler.
Turns out, the "new" air handler, wasn't exactly "new." It had some duplicate parts and wires inside!
The repair guy sorts that out, turns the system on, but still no heat.
He goes up on the roof, checks the heat pump compressor, and the circuit board inside is fried.
They order a new circuit board (under warranty) and come a week later (last week) to install it. They install it, POW, it fries right there on the spot!
So they check the wiring and find that the wires from the air handler to the roof compressor have low voltages across all five wires.
There should only be 24 volts on ONE wire.
He finds 12 volts on one wire, and eleven volts on each of the other four wires!
This is a real problem because that wire goes into our condo ceiling, and up through the walls of the building to the roof which is above the fourth floor. So anything could have happened to that wire in the floors above us.
A condo owner/occupant could have put a nail or screw into __his__ wall, and maybe that penetrated OUR wire. A rodent could have chewed the wire in the wall. The wire could have corroded. We just don't know. But now, we have to run a new wire from floor one (above the parking garage) to the roof. This is going to be a MAJOR pain in the ass.
THAT was the work that needed to be done yesterday along with install of a new circuit board in the roof-mounted compressor unit.
As I said earlier, it was raining yesterday and I told my wife "It's raining. He doesn't want to be on the roof in the rain. You watch, he won't show up."
She replied "Oh yes, he'll be here.
Around 5:00 PM, they called. The guy had a "family emergency" and can't come.
Gee who woulda thunk it?
So this morning, it's 46 degrees outside and the house is uncomfortably cool - again.
Thankfully, through prepping, we have emergency heat. Not through the air handler, but rather an external heater. I just turned it on, and the house is once again getting toasty warm.
ARRRRGGGGHHHH. Such aggravation!
. . . . and so it goes.
