Troubles and Two Triumphs

Our sister-in-law Chris commented that trouble always seems to find us.  No matter how hard we try, we have something go wrong.  Lately, I think she is right, but I guess that also means that I have to work a little harder to be optimistic.

After three "service" calls (read: $$$) from a HVAC firm and a new thermostat, we thought that we had our air handler/ heat pump problems solved.  Not so.  The system went down Sunday evening; therefore, once again Rick had to flip the breaker, wait a couple of minutes, and flip it back on.  Back in business, for now.  This morning, the system crashed again.  That was enough for both of us.

We went to our favorite home improvement store and came home with 10-gauge wire and a new 30 amp breaker. We knew that when we bought Gladys three years ago this coming summer, the first thing that we had to address was the old Federal Pacific breaker box.  That was replaced by our second day of ownership, but at that time, the electricians just used wire nuts to splice in the heating system wiring with the new box. We also know that this past year, the wires shorted out and took the system down.  The wires were repaired, but not replaced.  Today we took steps to remedy that situation.

Rick started by turning off power to the entire house. Smart move.  He then traced the wire from the air handler located in the attic above our garage to the box.  Of course, that wire came into the box at the very back, buried behind a tripped-out spider's web of wires located in front of them.  He finally was able to locate all three strands of wire and to trace them to the correct splice in one of three wire nuts. We were surprised to find that the wires in the nut were not even twisted together.  They were just held in place with the wire nut, so the possibility of a loose connection at that point was a real possibility.  Rick was able to disconnect the three wires from the breaker and the box.  He needed another half an hour just to pull them back up through the plastic conduit that threaded them down to the box.

Then he started to work on the other end of the line.  At the air handler, he found that the wire was even less connected to the system.  Inside that wire nut, he found the old wire lying next to stranded wire.  Again, we were astounded to find that nothing was twisted together to make a good contact.  Rick cut the old stranded wire off, exposed new wire, and twisted the stranded wire with the new wire. Then all of that was twisted back into the wire nut.  Back at the box, Rick threaded the new wires down the plastic conduit and hooked them up to the new 30 amp breaker.  OK, success.  We now have properly (and securely) connected new wire that is a home run from the air handler to the breaker box.  I know that I feel safer about having the electricity done correctly, and I hope that this new wire will solve our problems with the air handler going down every few weeks.

Our second problem confirmed itself yesterday.  A couple of weeks ago, Stephanie went with us to pick out a counter top for the utility sink in the laundry room.  We have patiently waited for a call from the counter top place to tell us that the top was finished.  We had been promised it last Tuesday, but when we called, we were told that it was not ready.  Fine.  We had plenty other things to do although washing out paint brushes in the bathroom sink was not something either of us wanted to do.

After coming home from Disney on Wednesday, we visited the counter top place.  By this time, we were both convinced that the counter top was somehow wrong.  We were right.  When we arrived, the office woman told us that they had "questions" about the counter top.  We found that they had done a beautiful job of mounting the sink into the counter top that we had chosen, but they had cut the top using the dimensions of the old counter top to which the sink was attached when we took it in.  Our mistake.  We should have not left the sink in the old top and just taken in the template that Rick had painstakingly completed for them to follow.  We had even told the office woman that the counter top had to be cut to the template, not to the old counter top.  Of course, they just cut the new counter top to the old top and totally disregarded the template.

After much English/ Spanish translation discussion (I heard mañana more than once), we finally agreed that we would come back today to pick up the redone counter top.  I do give the place credit that they were willing to rework the counter top to meet our needs.  We paid the agreed upon price, but for all of the issues, they probably lost money on the deal.

Our new counter top supporting the utility sink.

Rick spent the afternoon attaching the base cabinet to the wall and installing the new counter top and sink.  While we had a few challenges, he was able to get the plumbing connected with no leaks.  We now have a fully functioning utility sink, a beautiful new counter top, and a finally completed laundry room.

A replaced cabinet door above the sink and a
new counter top for the sink were the last two
pieces we needed to complete the laundry room.

So Gladys now has a new, clean, strong artery through which she can pump electricity to the HVAC system. (Every senior citizen needs to have her heart checked out occasionally.)  She also has a new utility sink (not located outside, as many are in Florida) with proper plumbing.  Again, we were presented with a couple of problems, but through hard work, we have come out triumphant... and that feels darn good.