What Happens When You Have A Heat Wave?

Your air conditioner dies, of course.  Dad was concerned that something was wrong Thursday night because it started squeaking.  He got it to stop squeaking, but Friday at noon, it died.  Mama called Dad and he started searching for a portable AC unit.  Apparently, he along with the rest of the city were on that mission since we are having a heat wave.  We learned that most homes here do not have AC.  Dad had seen a portable unit at Pep Boy's when our Jeep was there for repairs. They still had one and he bought it.  It was about 90 inside the RV when he turned it on.  Luckily, it gets cool here at night and by 10 p.m., it wasn't bad inside.  If it didn't cool off at night, we would be staying at a motel according to Mama.

The Portable AC Unit

Saturday, Dad said he was going to try and work on the air conditioner.  He is an air conditioning guy, so it should be easy right?  Well, the problem is that the air conditioner is not easy to get to on our motor home.  It is a basement air conditioner which means it is not on the roof.  The first thing Dad had to do was build a table that he could slide the air conditioner out on.  That sounds easier than it is.  He went to the store and had all the lumber cut there because the battery on his saw is bad.  He then came home and started working on it.  The battery for his drill is also bad, so after using it for about ten minutes it died.  He finally gave in and went back to the store and bought an electric drill.  Finally, the table was constructed.  It was late in the afternoon by this time.  He then moved the AC unit onto the table and started looking at it.  He put oil in it and worked with that for a while. He thought one part was bad, so we all got in the Jeep and drove to the store.  We got back home around 7 p.m.  Nope, that wasn't the problem.  Drat! 

How well did the portable AC unit work on Saturday?  Not well at all.  The temperature inside was 93. We had all the shades down so that the sun couldn't come in and we had our awnings out. We had the bedroom area closed off.  What is up with that?  We sat outside in the shade most of the day and it wasn't bad.  It was just boring.

The Beast

On Sunday, we tried a new approach to the portable AC unit.  We left the windows open and turned it on since it was cooler outside than inside.  It did keep it in the high 80's but felt so much better with the windows open. Dad said on Sunday that he was pretty sure he could get the AC to work on a temporary basis.  He kept working the oil through it and finally about 3 p.m. it started working.  Our neighbors cheered as they had been talking to us during the repair process. One man even came over and helped push the AC unit back into the motor home.  It is not fixed and we don't know each day if it will turn on, but so far, so good.  Dad could hot wire it so that the outside fan stays on and it would work, but he would rather not do that.  Yesterday, he turned it on before he left for work and told Mama to leave it on.  We about froze in here and after an hour, the unit did freeze up. It was only like 60 outside.  Mama opened all the windows and we stayed comfortable.  She decided to see if it would work around noon and it did.  She didn't want to let it turn off because she didn't know if it would turn back on, so she did laundry and used the oven to make it warm in here so that the AC would stay on.  BOL!  I know silly, but it is not fun being in a motor home that is in the 90's.


Today, it is cloudy and cool, but it will heat up later in the day.  Mama has it 65 in here with the windows open.  Hopefully the AC unit will come on when we need it later.  We have a repairman coming today, but he will not fix it since he will need to order parts. He is also going to check out our slide and step cover problem.  Dad also asked him to see what is involved in putting an ac unit on our roof.  We have been thinking of doing that and it will be nice to have a spare ac unit. 


There is a really nice group of people staying here this week. They are part of a Model A car club. Their national convention is being held in the area.   It is fun to see the old cars driving around the park and also in town.  They like to honk at us as they go by.  One car even had a horn that whistled at us.  BOL!

We like this trailer.  The guy is driving his car in the photo.  BOL!

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Thought He Might Get To Stay In A Motel For A Week