It's Cold

It's cold. The house is set at 60 degrees F.

Mid-December, our electric bill spiked. It was enough to catch my attention, but not enough to panic. I figured we had the heat up too high as the weather turned. We set the house lower and even spent a week on vacation Christmastime.

Then late-January our next electric bill hit and really raised eyebrows. $488 worth.

I called the electric company and had them come out and check our meter. Everything panned out, so we had to find the power drain. I felt like the house stayed cold and the auxiliary heat came on far too often, so I called Dan.

Dan came out the Thursday I was at a meet. January was filled with 80 hour weeks for him, so it was the first time he had a chance. He didn't see anything wrong with the system.

Carrie and I scratched our heads, but I still thought something was off with the heating. I was not home to talk things over with Dan, but we talked online and I took a picture of the aux heat kicking on (at 60 when the house was set for 60). Dan agreed it was weird, and came back out last Saturday. He realized that our refrigerant had leaked out.

The power drain was from the HVAC cutting on and trying to work. After a few minutes of futility, it would switch over to emergency heat (which is incredibly inefficient). In effect, our house system became a giant electric space heater that kicked on continuously. Bah humbug.

Unfortunately, Dan forgot to bring some of his tools and he did not have any refrigerant with him. He wanted to come back Sunday, but was unable to get his hands on refrigerant. Tuesday was the next available day, but Dan ended up pulling three more hours of overtime and didn't make it. He's going to try for Wednesday next. If that falls through, Thursday is on the docket. I hope he gets out here before we go on market Friday! A cold house won't sell! (and it's cold!)

In the meantime, Shane and I live in a house set a 60. We dress warm.

Our next electric bill is still going to suck. It might have been worth it to pay for someone to come out earlier, but once we started to wait for Dan (who I'd rather talk to and visit with) it didn't make sense to throw more money at the problem. Say a prayer that we get things sorted out soon!