It's Getting Hot In Here

[DailyDi]

Like everything else in this crazy house, the a/c isn't working right. The air coming out is barely cool, and it is currently 85 INSIDE with an outdoor temp of 90. Have a service contract, but next available date isn't until July 8th,

[Nia]

Ugh that is so brutal. more than 3 weeks to wait is a really long time. I hope the weather cools down soon.

[rusty pins]

Yikes!  I think I saw a portable air conditioner for $89 listed on the internet.  Blast Auxiliary Classic Portable AC - Ultra Cool Evaporative Air Condi – gadgestlife (gadgetlifes.com)  Might just help until the A/C gets fixed and you can always use it when needed.

[~Brian~]

32 minutes ago, DailyDi said:

Like everything else in this crazy house, the a/c isn't working right. The air coming out is barely cool, and it is currently 85 INSIDE with an outdoor temp of 90. Have a service contract, but next available date isn't until July 8th,

@DailyDi

That DOES suck - I have 2 8,000 BTU A/C's: I asked for replacements through Home Health,. because I didn't think that a 5,000 BTU in my bedroom would be able to cool it down very well.  I also wanted newer ones, that have REMOTES, so I don't have to KILL myself reaching across to turn them on and OFF.

I also have my 10,000 BTU unit in the Living Room, and My brother will take the 10K BTU home with him, and install my new 8K LG.  I thought that it would be appropriate to get new units, because I can't get my AC's recharged or CLEANED, so the best thing to do was to ask for replacements:  I hope that they are able to FIX the problem, and if it's CENTRAL Air, you may need refrigerant:  Have them check the levels, and check the system for leaks, and have them recharge it for you

Good Luck!

Brian

[MegaChar]

Check the radiator fins on the AC to see if its bent. If bent then straighten out. Check compressor(the black round cylinder in the unit) for operation. Check fans for operation and see if bearings are still good on fan.

 

Ours is getting kinda old itself. Fan makes noise sometimes, is 12 years old. Consumes more ampage then its supose to use(uses 11amps instead of 9 amps). Problem is that its a AC that you need a forklift to replace. Replacing the ac is $700 for a 7.5k btu unit. Want to use a swamp cooler but our place dosnt handle moisture too well.

 

[ValentinesStuff]

58 minutes ago, rusty pins said:

Yikes!  I think I saw a portable air conditioner for $89 listed on the internet.  Blast Auxiliary Classic Portable AC - Ultra Cool Evaporative Air Condi – gadgestlife (gadgetlifes.com)  Might just help until the A/C gets fixed and you can always use it when needed.

Those don't really work. They barely work if you are in a desert. 

[Little Cub Pants]

?So take off all your clothes!?........and just wear a diaper.??? Hahaha!??

[spoonchicken]

Place a pan with ice and water directly n front of a fan..it'll help

[pantypaul69]

Check the inside filter, I don't know when it was replaced. 

[square_duck]

Its "toasty" here too...and it will be for most of the summer...ugh. While in the store I saw a little "personal" airconditioner unit, about the size of a small toaster (?)  And was intrigued . Earlier I bought one of those small ceramic "space heaters" about the same size, and that lil thing ROCKS!!! Kept a 10x12 or so room cozy when it was cold.....I was amazed.!! So, if the heater worked so well, I'm thinking the little A/C unit might also work....so I'll pick one up next time I go shopping....they were also on sale, which helps....might be something to look into, if possible. 

 

[DailyDi]

11 hours ago, pantypaul69 said:

Check the inside filter, I don't know when it was replaced. 

We are good about that due to allergies.

[kasarberang]

Got past 100F outside yesterday, it was absolutely miserable, we don't have central A/C either, we have a wall unit in the other room, we have to use a string of fans lined up across to our room to get the cool air into our room. I feel you Mikey, I hate the summer heat. What's worse is we don't have a car so when we need groceries we gotta go walking out in the awful heat to get what we need or use expensive delivery services.

[DailyDi]

39 minutes ago, kasarberang said:

Got past 100F outside yesterday, it was absolutely miserable, we don't have central A/C either, we have a wall unit in the other room, we have to use a string of fans lined up across to our room to get the cool air into our room. I feel you Mikey, I hate the summer heat. What's worse is we don't have a car so when we need groceries we gotta go walking out in the awful heat to get what we need or use expensive delivery services.

Walking on a muggy day sucks! I used a delivery service a couple times during the worst of covid, but its not worth it as they jack up the prices and add fees on after that.

 

We've got ceiling fans in almost every room and Mom and I both have personal fans in our rooms, and she has an extra in the living room when she's watching tv. I mostly watch TV in my room as we stream different shows.

[SWet]

Being without AC is a bummer.  Here in Phoenix it’s 113 now going for 114, but it’s a dry heat (really doesn't make much difference at these temps). It's 1 degree cooler in Death Valley.  You sweat more than you wet in your diaper if you’re outside.  So I’m not looking for sympathy -- Well no, yes I am.  I live in a medium size house and you need 8 tons of AC to survive.  On the plus side Winters are nice.

[DailyDi]

3 minutes ago, SWet said:

Being without AC is a bummer.  Here in Phoenix it’s 113 now going for 114, but it’s a dry heat (really doesn't make much difference at these temps). It's 1 degree cooler in Death Valley.  You sweat more than you wet in your diaper if you’re outside.  So I’m not looking for sympathy -- Well no, yes I am.  I live in a medium size house and you need 8 tons of AC to survive.  On the plus side Winters are nice.

That's too much for me! I hate being hot. If you're cold you can put on a sweater or get under a comfy blankie. But there's no relief from hot.

[kasarberang]

1 hour ago, DailyDi said:

Walking on a muggy day sucks! I used a delivery service a couple times during the worst of covid, but its not worth it as they jack up the prices and add fees on after that.

 

We've got ceiling fans in almost every room and Mom and I both have personal fans in our rooms, and she has an extra in the living room when she's watching tv. I mostly watch TV in my room as we stream different shows.

I know, it's ridiculous, we decided one time this month to order groceries, what would normally be maybe $70 trip was over $100 to get it delivered. that's about $30 or so in fees, which is rediculous. I understand charging for delivery but $30+? That's a little much, especially considering that I'm positive the delivery worker doesn't even see $10 of that. Speaking of which, I'm not even counting tip, which you basically have to give cause you know these people don't get paid hardly anything.

 

Hope the fans work for you, sometimes fans are just what the doctor ordered, other times they feel like they might aswell not even be there. Yesterday it got so hot that even with the AC and all the fans it felt like we were going to melt, my computer even overheated, which prompted me to bite the bullet and get a better case for it with better airflow.

Back when we were living at my family's house my dad made us a little portable AC unit. It was a simple little plastic box with a lid, he drilled holes in the sides, cut a hole in the lid and taped a fan on it. You'd put icepacks and such in the box, turn on the fan and it worked like a charm. Unfortunately we decided we didn't need it when we moved, we regret not taking it now. Been trying to find something that'll work but surprisingly we haven't come across any boxes with thin enough plastic to do the job and it's hard ordering that sort of thing online and I know for fact now that I'm looking for cheap plastic the only thing I'm going to find is the most durable of boxes that can't be dented by any means, meanwhile when I look for something sturdy all I get is cheap plastic, lol.

1 hour ago, DailyDi said:

That's too much for me! I hate being hot. If you're cold you can put on a sweater or get under a comfy blankie. But there's no relief from hot.

That's exactly what I say! I much prefer being cold, cause it's far far cheaper to warm up than it is to cool down.

[Little Cub Pants]

8 minutes ago, DailyDi said:

That's too much for me! I hate being hot. If you're cold you can put on a sweater or get under a comfy blankie. But there's no relief from hot.

I totally agree 100%! ?☺️ I've been in that situation more times than I can count. I hate being hot!??

[Crinklz Kat]

I'm assuming central AC since you said you have a contract (kinda pointless with a window unit).  Anyway, check the outside unit for dirt/debris blocking airflow.  If you can, flush it out from the inside with a hose.  Might require taking some parts off.  I need to do this on my own unit.  On mine, the fan is attached to the top grille and comes off with 6 screws.  Once off I should have excellent access to hose it out. 

What might also help is simply spraying water on coils of the outside unit.  Hopefully the inside air starts getting colder.  Doesn't need much either - just enough to keep the coils wet.  It's the same principal that evaporative cooler listed above uses.

And speaking of evaporative coolers... they may work in some places, but not in humid regions.  It just adds to the humidity and that's worse than the heat.

 

A few years ago, I had a complete failure on my system -- inside fan was running, but outside unit wasn't doing anything at all.  Last time that happened it was the contactor (fancy name for relay) in the outside unit. So, I ordered one on Prime and waited for it to arrive.  I got it swapped out and NOTHING!  I fiddled and fiddled and finally did what I should have done in the first place - TEST FOR VOLTAGE!  Sure enough, I only had 1 leg, not both.  Moved up the wire to the outside breaker disconnect.  When I pulled the cover panel off, the problem was obvious. The breaker was completely burned through!   A trip down to Home Despot for a new breaker, and a hasty installation in the dark (fortunately had a good work light) and I had functional AC again!  At least now I have a fully functional spare contactor in case it really does fail.  Ended up 2 days without AC.  I find it very hard to sleep when it's so warm.  Fans only help so much.  At least I was spared having to place a service call that would have ended up quite expensive.

[rusty pins]

Our central air stopped working earlier this year, about a month ago.  It's less than one year old!  Had them come out and it was a loose wire.  Under warranty but we still had to pay a $100+ service call!  Rediculous for a new unit!  I also feel for all you cloth diaper wearers when it's hot and humid.  You hang your diapers outside on the line to dry and they won't!

[DailyDi]

5 hours ago, rusty pins said:

Our central air stopped working earlier this year, about a month ago.  It's less than one year old!  Had them come out and it was a loose wire.  Under warranty but we still had to pay a $100+ service call!  Rediculous for a new unit!  I also feel for all you cloth diaper wearers when it's hot and humid.  You hang your diapers outside on the line to dry and they won't!

Yeah, avoiding the service call fee is why we have to wait for the contract service instead of getting someone more urgently.

[Dubious]

Adding moisture is a bad idea, unless you live in a dry place.
(The ice cube ideas)

a decent moveable AC unit would cost the same or more than what the service on the proper AC unit will cost.

[raekun]

i feel for you mikey. i went through same thing last year. we had no AC for 3 months. when we finally got a contract selected, it was fall like weather! got it done for 5000 or so if i recall.

[astrodiaper]

The problem with this heat for me is trying to sleep during the day. I love this time of year at night, even at work. But during the day, with the shades down and the window fan running, I cannot get comfortable enough to sleep. 

[Wet Knight]

Not quite Midsummer in Gt Britain, and the mid day temperature was 57 degrees.

[barnburner]

Been a good summer in my apartment til this past weekend and today, they had to shut down an entire up and water down pipe or drain that feeds the hvac in my apartment as well as those above and below my apartment due to a leak, 4-5 day weekend doesnt help that no one is trying to get whatever needs to be done done, it hit 94 in my apartment unit today, not good... Got 6 fans going and they barely help cool anything down.

 

edit:

A/C came on 10 hours ago, woot woot!