Ohio Chatter DEV

Apple

It's been hotternhell this week. Our home central air conditioning goes out late Tuesday afternoon right before the July 4th holiday on Wednesday. Call the repair guy Thursday morning. He arrives today about mid-morning and discovers the problem.

A frickin earwig crawled into the AC unit and short-circuited the power line with its electrocuted dead carcass.

Next time you're not getting any power to your AC, pull the cover and double check the power line for dead bugs. You can thank me for saving you $75 later.

I hate earwigs!

dlazz

Cool story.

Apple

dlazz;1219909 wrote:Cool story.

Thanks.

Raw Dawgin' it

dlazz;1219909 wrote:Cool story.

just like yours about kids...

said_aouita

Sounds like BS to me. Repair man made it up to make a quick $75.

Apple

No BS, unless he had some dead bugs in his truck. Before he removed the thing he showed it to me. He said its not uncommon for this to happen.

DeadliestWarrior34

Another story brought to you by Brool Story Co.

ZWICK 4 PREZ

Apple;1219907 wrote:It's been hotternhell this week. Our home central air conditioning goes out late Tuesday afternoon right before the July 4th holiday on Wednesday. Call the repair guy Thursday morning. He arrives today about mid-morning and discovers the problem.

A frickin earwig crawled into the AC unit and short-circuited the power line with its electrocuted dead carcass.

Next time you're not getting any power to your AC, pull the cover and double check the power line for dead bugs. You can thank me for saving you $75 later.

I hate earwigs!

So why didn't you just reset the breaker yourself? Even if it somehow did short it... the tiny path it could have completed the circuit with was long gone and whatever left in there wasn't going to keep a short. You def got robbed of 75 dollars dude.

gut

How did he get robbed? Most guys charge you a service call just for showing up.

ZWICK 4 PREZ

gut;1220178 wrote:How did he get robbed? Most guys charge you a service call just for showing up.

B/c this guy didn't do anything that you couldn't do yourself and charged you $75 for it.

THE4RINGZ

So a company goes into business, hires someone to answer the phone when you call to send a guy out to solve your problem, you called the company because you saw their advertisement, they pay the guy to stop at your house, he shows up in a company owned vehicle equipped with every tool he might need to fix any problem you might have, the company offers a warranty on their work and pays insurance on the vehicle they sent to your house as well as taxes and workman's comp for their employee, and it should be free because the service tech did something the homeowner could have done himself?

Amazing logic.

ZWICK 4 PREZ

THE4RINGZ;1220214 wrote:So a company goes into business, hires someone to answer the phone when you call to send a guy out to solve your problem, you called the company because you saw their advertisement, they pay the guy to stop at your house, he shows up in a company owned vehicle equipped with every tool he might need to fix any problem you might have, the company offers a warranty on their work and pays insurance on the vehicle they sent to your house as well as taxes and workman's comp for their employee, and it should be free because the service tech did something the homeowner could have done himself?

Amazing logic.

How bout you hire me to turn your lights on and off. 75 bucks a turn of the light switch. I'll even hire a person to answer the phone when you need another light turned on or off. It's worth it since I'm doing a service for you. I'll send over a contract for you to sign.

gport_tennis

ZWICK 4 PREZ;1220275 wrote:How bout you hire me to turn your lights on and off. 75 bucks a turn of the light switch. I'll even hire a person to answer the phone when you need another light turned on or off. It's worth it since I'm doing a service for you. I'll send over a contract for you to sign.

Flipping a light switch is the same as fixing an AC unit lol

said_aouita

Kinda like having AAA when you are capable of changing a tire yourself. Some people would rather just call the professionals to solve the issue, no matter how simple it may be.

Apple

ZWICK 4 PREZ;1220139 wrote:So why didn't you just reset the breaker yourself? Even if it somehow did short it... the tiny path it could have completed the circuit with was long gone and whatever left in there wasn't going to keep a short. You def got robbed of 75 dollars dude.

The first thing I checked was the breaker. Actually, what was left in there was keeping a short and the repair guy showed me how it was stuck and interrupting the power.

Yes, if I was more mechanically and/or electronically inclined, I'd probably would have been able to figure out the problem myself. Now that I know something like this can cause the AC to go out, I'll check it before making a repair call. Furthermore, there are some things that I prefer to hire out rather than do it myself. Ex: I know how to change the oil in the car but I choose to have someone else do it.

gut

Aside from resetting a circuit breaker, I wouldn't go messing with anything involving electricity. You can screw up a plumbing project and cost yourself thousands of dollars, but if you screw up on something electrical you could be dead.

ZWICK 4 PREZ

gport_tennis;1220293 wrote:Flipping a light switch is the same as fixing an AC unit lol

It took the same amount of work. Fliiping a light swtich and flipping the compressors breaker inside the a/c unit.

Belly35

My A/C when out yesterday $321.00 buck later fixed (some electrical replacement parts, pound of freon, complete cleaning core... running better than ever and he checked the furance also... I'm feeling lucky could have been a complete unit and that would have been costly...

Jawbreaker

I had this happen twice this year. Bugs getting in the compressor contactor. It is a simple fix but annoying. At some point I in time I need to spend the $20 for a new contactor since it is starting to show some damage.

Archive

Another reason to hate earwigs