The story of my life...

[lincpimp]

Ok, so you guys may have noticed that I have not been around as much, or maybe you have not. Maybe you do not care, who knows!

Anyways, I have had alot of work in the shop, and also took a week off to go on a cruise to the Bahamas! And the worst part has been the heat in my upstairs hobby room. The ac unit I have up there was overheating, and the motor burned out. The compressor motor seems to be fine, and it still blows ice cold air (only on low setting as the motor for the blower/condenser fan overheats on med and high). Being horribly cheap!!!! I decided to fix it. This beast is a 2 ton window unit (must weight 300+ pounds) and was made in the 60's. Took the whole thing apart (try doing that with a newer unit), cleaned both of the coils and the drip trays and took the motor to a local shop to be rewound. Well that was more than a month ago and I just got a call today that he was done with it. 135 bucks... (he ended up buying me a new motor cause the old one was "too far gone to fix", whatever) might not have been the best idea, but a comparable new model would be close to 500 bucks... But it would also be new.

The funny part is that I bought a new ac unit yesterday evening from wally world. But I have not got it out of the box yet, so I will put the old unit back together and give it a try. I can always take the new unit back, right! Just how my life works, I try to be patient, but I always end up doing stuff like this.

The newer unit I got appears to be the same physical size, which would help as the current unit is in a custom cut hole in a wall, not a window. Hopefully the old unit keeps working, and I can take the new one back and get my $380 back. Plus the new unit is not as good spec as the old unit (might be a wash as it is new and might be more efficient?) I really do not want to have to modify the wall and mount a new unit in there as that will take alot more time than reassembling the old unit.

So hopefully I will have working ac soon and can get back to some of my rc projects. Still need to sell some of my excess stuff, but it is so hot up there that I cannot even dig thru the boxes without dripping sweat everywhere. Waiting for winter to play with my toys is getting old!

[rabosi]

It's amazing that thing worked so many years. I had my in wall unit from the 70's replaced before this summer. Cost me $700 installed for 28000 btu. The new units might be very efficient but they are not built as solidly as the old ones.

[lincpimp]

Originally Posted by rabosi

It's amazing that thing worked so many years. I had my in wall unit from the 70's replaced before this summer. Cost me $700 installed for 28000 btu. The new units might be very efficient but they are not built as solidly as the old ones.

Pretty funny huh? The unit was in the window when my parents bought their old house in 84, and it looked old then. Dad put central air in, so he put the unit in the garage, 30'x30' with no insulation at the time. Then I got it in 95 and put it upstairs at work. So it has run for at least 10-12 hours a week every summer since then, sometimes more if I was working late. It is well built, and you can take it completely apart with a 1/4" and a 3/8" socket... Plus it is all steel, and heavy!

[Bondonutz]

Going without A/C sucks no matter what, I'm feeling you there !!
Best wishes getting your A/C up and going ASAP and getting back to prodjects.
This southern heat bites hairy butt cheeks.I've ben here in FL for 40yrs, I'm ready to move someplace a little more climactic myself.

[Marvin]

Move to Britain; you'll never worry about too much sun/heat again.

[lincpimp]

Originally Posted by Marvin

Move to Britain; you'll never worry about too much sun/heat again.

Heh, I moved from Britain a long time ago, and I would prefer to not be socialist again... I am still a British citizen though, so guilty by association, right? The weather is a bit "temperate" in the UK but you guys can have similar highs to us here. And no guns to shoot yourself with either. Karl Marks would be smiling!

The south does suck in the summer, not so much the heat, but the 3 billion percent humidity, sweating is a joke, as evaporative cooling only works when the air is dry...

[Marvin]

Originally Posted by lincpimp

The weather is a bit "temperate" in the UK but you guys can have similar highs to us here. And no guns to shoot yourself with either. Karl Marks would be smiling!

The south does suck in the summer, not so much the heat, but the 3 billion percent humidity, sweating is a joke, as evaporative cooling only works when the air is dry...

Well, yeah, but those 'highs' are experienced around once every 19 years. Otherwise it's just 'drizzle', 'scattered showers' or 'fog'. Britain has some of the most boring weather known to man.

At least you're having a sort of heat wave.

We get showers. Yay.

We also get humidity. Woo. Can't wait for that again.

In fairness, this summer has been alright. I've only had to call off going to a race meeting once so far due to weather, and that's fine by me.

[Bondonutz]

Hey Linc,
Curious; When you moved from Britain how did you find yourself in LA ? With all the choices of places to go, it seems like a unusual place to want to plant new roots ?

[nitrostarter]

Originally Posted by Bondonutz

Hey Linc,
Curious; When you moved from Britain how did you find yourself in LA ? With all the choices of places to go, it seems like a unusual place to want to plant new roots ?

Simple answer: The food and partying is unbeatable!

[magman]

Originally Posted by nitrostarter

Simple answer: The food and partying is unbeatable!

Not to mention the women!

[lincpimp]

Well, I was only 14 months old when I came to the US. My dad worked for british aerospace, and was recruited by nasa to work on the space shuttle program. He was mainly a test engineer so he ended up in New Orleans at the Michoud plant where they build the external tank. He worked there for 11 years, then bought an auto body shop, and that is what I own now. I guess he could have gone to a few other places where the space shuttle parts were made, but not sure why he chose LA. I like it here, people are very friendly and laid back.

[Bondonutz]

Nothing wrong with drunk harlets slinging their silky milkys around, Good Times !

[magman]

Originally Posted by Bondonutz

Nothing wrong with drunk harlets slinging their silky milkys around, Good Times !

nothing wrong w/that at all!

[lincpimp]

Originally Posted by Bondonutz

Nothing wrong with drunk harlets slinging their silky milkys around, Good Times !

HAHAHAHA, so true...

Yeah, the food and women are pretty decent around here. At least the food tastes good!!!

[BL_RV0]

An AC unit is the story of your life?
Ha... It's great to have ya back LINC!