Baby Its Cold... Inside

Last night was not a good time to lose the heat in one's house.

Now, I know what you may be thinking... oh, you wimpy Phoenician what did it get down to 62 degrees outside?  Not quite.  Last night was the 2nd consecutive night of below-freezing temperatures.  On Sunday morning, our indoor/outdoor thermometer read 27 degrees.  This morning it was even lower... 25 degrees.  According to the newspaper, these are the lowest Phoenix temperature readings in 16+ years.

My first "uh-oh" moment was last night.  As I was watching TV, I was thinking "Hmmm... it seems a bit chilly."   I go to the thermostat to pop up the heat ... and nothing turns on... and then I realize it should have been on before I even got there.

  Ok, I thought no huge deal.  We have 2 outdoor AC/heating units. I go check outside, both are on and blowing. Back inside, the other side the house is humming away.  However, when I was reading in bed (I know, I know the bed is only supposed to be for sleeping and that) I feel a cool rush of air blowing from the air vent in the ceiling. I just think I must be imagining things. The air is probably "warm" but I am just not feeling it in relation to the outside temperature. 

I am not good at all with "guy" things.  I know, shocking.  Todd takes care of all that stuff, plus he's owned a home before, where my "fix it" expertise was calling the apartment complex office for a maintenance guy to come over.

So, I wake up this morning and the "heated" side of the house is at 62 degrees and the non-heated side is a brisk 59 degrees. Something is obviously not right.  I emailed Todd just to see if he had any ideas.  I figure I am just being "stupid" about something.  Though in retrospect probably a bad idea since he (a) certainly doesn't need another thing to worry about and (b) can't do a thing about from France.

The phone book is full of "same day service" ads for AC/heating unit service companies.  The first one I call says they can come out Wednesday morning... the second says tomorrow/Tuesday morning.  I figure I can make it through 24 hours... and figure it is a bit silly to keep calling around and making and canceling appointments.

But I still run out and get another space heater, since the one I do have couldn't get my not terribly big office past 63 degrees.  I plug in the new one, get a cup of coffee.. and everything in my office is off.  I had blown a fuse/circuit.  Fortunately, I figured out how to get that back on... though it was a bit scary when a couple of the first attempts to "fix" it didn't work.  Again, hopelessly inept when it comes to these things.

One place I called also does plumbing and they said they were getting more calls for busted pipes due to the freeze vs. heating unit problems.  When I was asking my two fellow "work at home" co-workers about their heating/AC experiences, one of them said they haven't had water for 2 days now.  I definitely prefer being a bit chilly than having to deal with that!

So I guess that's it.  The outdoor temp is up to about 50 degrees ... the indoor seems to be hanging around the mid 60s... so we're doing fine... but I will certainly appreciate the heat when it gets back!

Comments

[Scott-O-Rama]

You have an open invitation to come up to our place if it gets too cold for you. Don't be shy about using it.

[Craig]

Hope it all gets worked out soon.

It's apparently supposed to snow here in Seattle again tonight. This poor Aussie is missing Summer in his home country and freezing his butt off! lol