AC troubles (?)

Well, late yesterday afternoon and last night were kind of nerve-w/racking. I thought I was feeling a little warm and checked the thermostat. It read 86. Now, I have it set at 83. I have a whole lot of tolerance for heat and not much for cold. Consequently, my winter electric bills are always MUCH higher than those in the summer.

I didn't remember in the past the thermostat registering that high a reading before the AC automatically kicked in. So, every 10-15 minutes found me back in the hallway again checking the temperature.

When it registered 88 and holding steady, I first checked the batteries in the thermostat and then went outside to check the breakers to see if one had been tripped. Nothing seemed to be amiss.

I decided to go to Walgreen's and buy some new batteries. Thought I'd try that route first. I did. Installed same. Nothing happened. No AC automatically kicked in. I tried lowering the automatic temperature setting. Still nothing.

I called ARS (my local 'everything that has to be fixed' favorite of choice). It was probably around 7pm. They would send someone over, she said. It would cost me $79.50 for the service call, and no work would be performed until I authorized it. (Standard procedure.) I said OK. She verified my address and phone number, and I sat back to wait.

About half an hour later I heard a noise that sounded VERY much like the AC had come on. I thought, "What the devil?" I went out back, and discovered that it was, indeed, on. Upon returning inside, I could see that the picture mobile I have in the loft was moving, a sure sign of air circulation.

I ran to check the thermostat reading. Still at 88. I thought, "What to do?" I called ARS again to tell the very nice lady that my AC had all of a sudden decided to come on, but got a different nice lady who, when I had again identified myself and explained the current situation, said, "Oh, yes. We have someone coming over. Do you want to cancel?"

Now I didn't know what to do! You who don't live in the south might not know this but, in order to 'cool' to any degree, the humidity in the air has to first be removed -- or at least reduced to a point where cooling might begin. Some time must be allowed to elapse before any actual cooling is felt.

She asked, "Do you feel any cold air coming out?" I said that I really couldn't tell, and went from room to room locating all of the vents and trying to spot one where I might actually be able to reach up high enough to tell if cold (or at least cooler!) air was coming out.

The guest bath was my best bet, and I asked this second nice lady to hold on (I was going to have to put the phone down) while I climbed up onto the toilet seat and then reach up to ascertain possible cool/cold air coming from the vent. She did, and I did -- twice! It seemed to me as tho cool/cold air WAS coming from the vent.

I made an 'executive decision' to cancel, hoping that they might still accept a distress call from me later. No problem, sez she.

Well, some hours later, as I'm adjourning into the bedroom to hit the pillow, I notice (as I'm passing the thermostat in the hallway) that the reading is at 86. NOW what?? I decided to simply hit the pillow and try and get some sleep. If I exuded moisture (will have to do a post at a later time with descriptions of how people 'exude moisture'), then so be it. I was prepared to spend a very damp night tossing and turning in my uncomfortableness.


I woke up this morning not at all hot and sweaty and very comfortable. In fact, I'd had to throw a blanket over myself during the night. I checked the thermostat reading ... 83. Hmmph!

It is now several hours later. It is STILL at 83 very comfortable degrees. Hmmph!!


To be continued later, no doubt.