Month: April 2023

Why do I do this to myself? From an early age my dad always taught me to keep up with all maintenance needs but time and time again I fail to follow through with that lesson.

• This past week has been no different.

I should have had an HVAC technician come out and do their routine heating and cooling maintenance but I got busy. That’s slightly a lie, I could’ve made time to have an HVAC tech to come out and look at my HVAC system but I never liked to be stuck to a scheduled appointment. It’s awful, I know. That’s probably why I haven’t seen a doctor or dentist in like 5 or so years. I can’t do it. Sometimes I want to see a movie. When I show up at the theater there is a difference between watching a movie in 30 minutes for the one movie I want to see or one that I’m not quite interested in but I’ll watch it because I don’t want to wait. Yeah, that sounds awful, my anxiety tells me to just get in and try to enjoy the film that is on screen. When I finish that film, if the one I wanted to see is about to start then I’ll watch it. Regardless, now I’m dealing with an HVAC system that isn’t working. I don’t really want to spend the money on someone to fix whatever is going on but now I have no choice, especially because winter is coming. I’m just going to have to suck it up and schedule an appointment.

space heater for sale

That’s it, I’m tired of the heat this summer.

• I have been living in this house for the last 30 years and I always believed unless the sun was going to directly light the earth on fire I’d be comfortable.

There was always a certain warmth that I had no issues with and to be honest I never thought I’d hit my breaking point. It doesn’t matter where I am these days, the weather is unbearable. So today I broke down and bought a window air conditioner. I know my friend who is an HVAC technician who told me I should just get central air conditioning but I don’t think I really need that right now. He keeps saying it’s only going to get hotter and one day you’re going to wish you had central air conditioning. I don’t think about one day. When I get older I plan to give this house to my son and I want to live in an old folk home and drink tea with some friends without worries of home repairs. These are the days I dream about. I know when growing up it’s about getting your license, then getting to the age limit of buying your first beer and there are other things but to me, those are the biggest things. Right now I am just thinking about retiring and living the rest of my life carefree. But until then I guess I need to go to the store and buy a window air conditioner. I hope it’s easy to install because that might be a deal breaker but who am I kidding, I can’t survive in this heat.

 

thermostat

My dad taught me everything I know.

Ever since I was about 3 years old I started doing small little tasks.

Almost true, my first experience was with a hammer and nail to hang up a silly picture I colored but the nail went through my hand. I still have the scar to this day and I remember the amount of pain I endured. I can say it wasn’t fun for my mother or me. My dad just shook his head and from that day forward he started teaching me. Now, several years later he is getting up there in age and he still tries to do everything he did when he was younger but he struggles. He never asks for help and he will never pay anyone to do work that he feels he still can do. So no electricians, no roofers, no heating and cooling techs, no bug killers, pretty much no one besides myself. With the weather getting warmer he tried putting in his window air conditioner. I don’t know why he doesn’t get central air conditioning but this is what he wants to do. So he was trying to put in the window air conditioner and it fell on him. He tried so hard and he realized at that moment that in order for him to feel the coolness of the air conditioning he will need my assistance. My dad has done so much for me over the years and I knew in my heart that when this day came I’d be here for him. I put it in the window air conditioner and you can tell he was a bit sad but he smiled knowing I’m here to help him going forward.

 

air conditioner service plan

Still, it’s hard to get friends to come over.

Living in an upstairs apartment isn’t exactly what I wanted to have growing up. I’m pushing 40 years old and I’m single but can’t really do much when I have neighbors that live below me. If I make too much noise, step on the wrong floor boards or invite too many of my friends, they will either call the landlord, beat on the ceiling or call the cops. They are terrible and I always try to be nice to them but they just look at me in disgust, like I’m not worthy of their presence. It doesn’t matter anyways. The greatest thing about them living below me is that heat rises. The temperature they have their thermostat set at is ideal for my liking. It doesn’t matter if it’s summer or winter, the air conditioning or the heater settings are perfect. I never turn on my electric furnace so my heating and cooling bills are very low all year round. I’ll never tell them that they are basically paying to keep me warm or cool. So I guess I have that going for me. I’m sure if they ever found out about that they’d freak out and demand the landlord to put in extra insulation. Still, it’s hard to get friends to come over. I thought about getting a dog but I figured they’d yell every day about that. So most days I’m not here unless I’m sleeping or don’t want to go out and eat. A friend offered me to move in but I still like my space and privacy. Regardless, I’m going to enjoy the heating and cooling that they provide.

heating maintenance

It is the annual change of your filters a day. I change my filters once every 3 months because I like to stay up on that maintenance. I have a pile of brand new ones which I opened and placed in a stack on my basement floor. It’s probably about 2 years worth. I open them because when I do the change, I really don’t want to spend time opening them and in this way I can quickly do the change. I used to have an HVAC technician come to my house and do this but he gave me a lesson on how to do this myself so I can save money. I always loved that about the HVAC company around here, they always went above and beyond to look out for their customers. The last few days everything in my house started to smell very awful. I didn’t know where it was coming from but then thought maybe something died and maybe it was in my heating vents. I had to call the HVAC company and they sent out a heating and cooling tech. After he examined it, he said the smell was cat pee. I was confused at first but my cat Max wouldn’t have done that, would he? I checked the pile of air filters on the basement floor and they all smelled. It was disgusting and I was disgusted with Max. The HVAC technician replaced the air filters I had and said I probably should store them somewhere else going forward. I learned an important lesson that day, don’t leave your air filters on the ground, you never know if your cat will pee on them.
electric heating system

I live in a duplex building with my dog Roscoe. He is an amazing dog who does everything with me. I trained him well over the years and I never had any problems. He’d go for hikes with me, long road trips, and days at the beach. My friends let me bring him with me because he is so well mannered. I really couldn’t ask for a better dog. Roscoe would be a great fit for any family and I’m just lucky enough to have him. He is my family and there is no one else. I found him lost and hungry a few years back with no family. I remember taking him to an animal shelter but after a few days, the shelter called me and said no one claimed him. I remember having the feeling that we were meant to be together. I didn’t hesitate and said I’ll take him home. Roscoe, like I said, never had issues until recently. The weather was getting cold, colder than usual and I can say the cold doesn’t bother me. But this year it did. So I went out and bought a portable air conditioner. I plugged it in, excited to have warmth I never had before and then Roscoe started to whine which led to barking. He was shaking and sat on the other side of the living room of the portable space heater. I felt bad and didn’t know what to do. I talked to my friend who is an HVAC tech for our local heating and cooling company and he said you can either see if he warms up to it or get your furnace looked into. He then said he’ll look into it for free. I took him up on his offer because I really didn’t want Roscoe to suffer.

 

heat pump maintenance