![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
"We are handymen, Earl. Handy. Men."*
Jul. 7th, 2010 12:06 pmOr, "Yeah, but it's a dry heat!"**
It's hot now in Portland. Finally. After a wet, cool spring--and June--the summer heat has finally arrived with a vengeance. Fortunately for my lovely and talented (but, alas, heat-intolerant) wife, we have a powerful air conditioner in the living/dining room. It's a portable model, but we keep it there--it's a lot easier to install (and more powerful) than window models of equal power, and we can put it away when fall or winter get here. That plus the blinds I put up in the huge picture window in the living room (that faces the morning sun), is keeping the house a lot cooler than the anemic window AC did the last couple of years.
We have another portable air conditioner in our bedroom. It's the first one we bought, and we liked it enough that we bought the new one this spring. I walked into the dark room (my lovely and talented earlybird wife goes to bed three hours before I do) and groped my way around the foot of the bed. And my bare foot went squelch in the carpet.
"Hmmm," I thought. "That's not right." My first thought was to wonder if Snippy had spilled a glass of water. But a) she'd have cleaned it up if that were the case, and b) there's no reason why she'd have a glass of water in that spot. Her bedside table is closer to the door.
So I knelt down and felt around. Better and better. Lots of wet carpet. So I checked the drip tank on the AC (which collects the condensate and has to be emptied periodically. Nope, it was properly attached...but empty. Which is odd, given that the AC had been running. So I checked the carpet around and under the AC unit. Bingo! Water was leaking out of it onto the floor instead of filling the tank. Crap.
It was also unsteady. Turns out that two of the four caster wheels underneath it were broken or missing***. I reattached one, which stabilized it a little. I laid a couple of towels beneath the AC and let it continue running. My lovely and talented (but heat-intolerant) wife needs her coolth if she's going to sleep. This morning I checked the drip tank and it wa about half full, so clearly my makeshift efforts helped--but the towel was wet. It was still leaking.
This morning I dragged the AC unit into the dining room where I had room to monkey with it.Wrestling it around and turning on its sides spilled more water--not a lot, but enough to demonstrate that water had clearly collected inside the casing when it wasn't filling the tank properly. As of this writing it's now dry again.
I went to the local appliance parts store to see if they had replacement casters. No dice. But they suggested an electronics supply store (who work with the manufacturer of the AC). They didn't have them either, but they could order them. When I asked what they'd cost, the price seemed...excessive. Way excessive. So I went home and checked online and found casters at Home Despot for about $3 each. Drove out, bought four, came home and installed them on the AC.
Called my lovely and talented wife to report on my efforts, who was pleased. (Hence the title of this post.) We'll see tonight if replacing the casters and leveling the unit makes a difference. If not...well, that will be bad.
*A genuine No-Prize to the first person to identify this quote.
**I moved here from Virginia. When my lovely and talented wife complains of the humidity I frequently reply (quite sincerely) "What humidity?" Okay, not so sincerely after all these years. It's a joke now. But still, there's a grain of truth to it.
***Before we bought the second portable AC unit, we'd wheel this one out into the living room during the day and evening to cool that area, then back into the bedroom for sleeping. The plastic casters may make it portable, but they're not intended for that much regular use--especially on a carpet.
It's hot now in Portland. Finally. After a wet, cool spring--and June--the summer heat has finally arrived with a vengeance. Fortunately for my lovely and talented (but, alas, heat-intolerant) wife, we have a powerful air conditioner in the living/dining room. It's a portable model, but we keep it there--it's a lot easier to install (and more powerful) than window models of equal power, and we can put it away when fall or winter get here. That plus the blinds I put up in the huge picture window in the living room (that faces the morning sun), is keeping the house a lot cooler than the anemic window AC did the last couple of years.
We have another portable air conditioner in our bedroom. It's the first one we bought, and we liked it enough that we bought the new one this spring. I walked into the dark room (my lovely and talented earlybird wife goes to bed three hours before I do) and groped my way around the foot of the bed. And my bare foot went squelch in the carpet.
"Hmmm," I thought. "That's not right." My first thought was to wonder if Snippy had spilled a glass of water. But a) she'd have cleaned it up if that were the case, and b) there's no reason why she'd have a glass of water in that spot. Her bedside table is closer to the door.
So I knelt down and felt around. Better and better. Lots of wet carpet. So I checked the drip tank on the AC (which collects the condensate and has to be emptied periodically. Nope, it was properly attached...but empty. Which is odd, given that the AC had been running. So I checked the carpet around and under the AC unit. Bingo! Water was leaking out of it onto the floor instead of filling the tank. Crap.
It was also unsteady. Turns out that two of the four caster wheels underneath it were broken or missing***. I reattached one, which stabilized it a little. I laid a couple of towels beneath the AC and let it continue running. My lovely and talented (but heat-intolerant) wife needs her coolth if she's going to sleep. This morning I checked the drip tank and it wa about half full, so clearly my makeshift efforts helped--but the towel was wet. It was still leaking.
This morning I dragged the AC unit into the dining room where I had room to monkey with it.Wrestling it around and turning on its sides spilled more water--not a lot, but enough to demonstrate that water had clearly collected inside the casing when it wasn't filling the tank properly. As of this writing it's now dry again.
I went to the local appliance parts store to see if they had replacement casters. No dice. But they suggested an electronics supply store (who work with the manufacturer of the AC). They didn't have them either, but they could order them. When I asked what they'd cost, the price seemed...excessive. Way excessive. So I went home and checked online and found casters at Home Despot for about $3 each. Drove out, bought four, came home and installed them on the AC.
Called my lovely and talented wife to report on my efforts, who was pleased. (Hence the title of this post.) We'll see tonight if replacing the casters and leveling the unit makes a difference. If not...well, that will be bad.
*A genuine No-Prize to the first person to identify this quote.
**I moved here from Virginia. When my lovely and talented wife complains of the humidity I frequently reply (quite sincerely) "What humidity?" Okay, not so sincerely after all these years. It's a joke now. But still, there's a grain of truth to it.
***Before we bought the second portable AC unit, we'd wheel this one out into the living room during the day and evening to cool that area, then back into the bedroom for sleeping. The plastic casters may make it portable, but they're not intended for that much regular use--especially on a carpet.
