OPINION

Apr 25, 2024

That time of the year has rolled around again. Storms blow through on short notice, triggering erratic weather and tornado warnings, grass seems to grow two inches every other day, and air conditioning companies struggle to keep up with requests for expensive repairs and replacements.

It feels to me like each passing year jumps directly from winter to summer, bypassing most of spring. Temperatures can range from the high 60s to the low 80s in a week.

And this year brings me to my point.

When I flipped on the home AC unit on May 23, it didn't take long to realize the house wasn't cooling as quickly as it had in warm weather past. The vents were spewing noticeably less cool air than when we shut the system down last November. I could barely feel the flow.

Since no one in this family has training in AC repair, we quickly found ourselves again at the mercy of a company we've previously used who advertises they can revive our unit and mercifully stop the sweating.

Isn't that what we all must do? Rely on the ability and integrity of technicians hired by an AC business?

It took a day or so to get help to us. He did some disassembling on our 19-year-old 3-ton Lennox unit, and within 30 minutes handed us an invoice. I paid $147.83, noticing on the bill he'd charged $60 for a service call and $75 for labor to discover the fan motor had failed and one would have to be ordered, which could take a few days.

That knowledge didn't help cool down the overheated house as we faced a weekend.

Several days later the company's secretary called to say a technician would be by later in the day to replace the fan motor. Ahh, at long last we'd be able to breathe freely again at night.

The technician arrived and, after less than hour of doing his technician thing, wrote that he'd "replaced cond from motor, washed the coil, checked freon charge," on an invoice for $604.62, which I paid. That included no service charge and $100 for labor. The motor alone with shipping ran $428, give a dime or so.

Ahh, finally relief, albeit getting expensive. After days of sweltering, coolness was once again at hand!

Again, I rejoiced too soon. By the next day the air wasn't working again.

The technician arrived after another day or so of heat. He went through the dismantling process and after a while came in to hand me my invoice for $401.32, which I paid. This third technician, who didn't assess a service charge, told me the system was leaking and wrote on the invoice, "we replaced fan motor last week," and he also had found "system a little low on refrigerants. Customer wants Leak Stop and topped with with 1# R22 [illegible]." This bill included $125 labor charge for adding the $136 Leak Stop and $100 refrigerant.

I was told, as I had been in years past by the same company, that a unit this old would likely soon need replacing. But surely a trained technician this season would have suggested that before letting us waste over $1,100 in fruitless repairs and a new fan motor only to, as you might have guessed by now, leave it still not cooling the next day, supposedly because of unrepairable continued leaking.

I asked for an estimate on how much to replace the unit. They responded with an offer of less than $7,000 (oh, and don't forget to add in the $1,100 we'd already shelled out for nothing).

Then, a day later, I received via email an unexplained bill from the same company for $120, which after being questioned about it, was quickly erased.

So here we are some two weeks later still desperately trying to maintain my cool after the first phone call for help back in late May, waiting yet another week for a new unit to arrive and be installed by another capable heating and air company recommended by friends whose bid was lowest by hundreds. Imagine that!

Meanwhile, I have a barely used AC fan motor for sale--cheap.

Shocking response

As a stunning example of how far our society has slipped culturally and spiritually in recent decades, a clip I watched on social media from the popular televised game show "Jeopardy!" showed that all three supposedly brilliant contestants, capable of answering some of the most obscure questions, were unable to come up with the correct question about the universally known and oft-recited Lord's Prayer from Matthew 6:9-13.

The prompt read, "Matthew 6:9 says, 'Our Father, which art in heaven,' This 'be thy name.'"

The correct question, as most Christian preschool children have been taught, is "What is 'hallowed'?"

Unbelievable that not one of three intelligent adults on a national game show with an audience of millions could even venture a guess, much less correct answer, here in the United States of America where our money is inscribed "In God We Trust."

An appropriate guess for one of these Mensa types might have been "forgotten" be thy name.

Mike Masterson is a longtime Arkansas journalist, was editor of three Arkansas dailies and headed the master's journalism program at Ohio State University. Email him at [email protected].

Print Headline: Keeping my cool

Copyright © 2023, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc.

All rights reserved.

This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc.

Material from the Associated Press is Copyright © 2023, Associated Press and may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and noncommercial use. The AP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing. All rights reserved.