New Computer / Old A/C

The past 2 days were filled by competing priorities. Monday was to be the normal laundry and catch up day. It was also the day the new computer monitor was to arrive. The new computer was already in the house. It arrived last Tuesday. I didn’t open the box yet figuring I would set everything up at the same time. The monitor did arrive but not until 6:30 PM. So I spent most of the day on laundry and paperwork.

The complication entered the scene when, as I was walking down the hall, I stepped in a cold wet spot on the carpet near the air conditioner. After some investigation I found that the a/c condenser unit was leaking water right where the drain comes out of the condenser. Usually this happens when the drain line cruds up and backs up. This wasn’t the problem. I’ve been doing a good job keeping that line clear. I still got the shop vac and sucked it out. The leak appeared to be coming either from or around the threaded pvc connection. It was demolition time. I used the cutting tool that I got last year to use on the sprinkler system. The pvc pipe itself was the same size that I used for the sprinkler so I had spare parts to replace what I was removing. Once I cut off the pipe to the condenser I found it to be only finger tight. I don’t know how it got lose since it was glued into position. Hopefully just putting it back in tightly would solve the problem.

Tightening didn’t work—I found out later that I didn’t tighten it enough. I was afraid of stripping the threads or worse, breaking the connector. I ended up disassembling the duct and exposing the whole connector. I dried everything off and sealed all around the connector with silicon sealant (which I then discovered was past its shelf life and wouldn’t cure properly). I continued anyway threading the drain pipe in place-using some Teflon tape on the threads and a bead of good caulking around the top of the threads. This time I screwed it in as tightly as I could. Having inspected the connector I saw it was sound and could take the torque required to hopefully seal it. Then I let everything sit for a little over an hour.

In between the a/c task I did laundry and set up the computer. Setting up the computer went smoothly. The monitor looks and works great. The computer is so quiet I can’t tell it is working. Now I see if I can load my office software on it. This computer has 64-bit windows vista home premium on it. I don’t know how compatible my old programs will be. I do have video editing and photo editing software (bought cheaply with big rebates last year) that are compatible.

The A/C was dry after running for 1 hour. I’m not convinced I fixed it yet because of the bad sealer I used. We will see how it goes overnight-that will determine my agenda for tomorrow.

Kitty Update—Marmalade has become our weekend cat. She disappears on weekdays and shows up on the weekend. Some time Buzz disappears, too. Tonight only Velcro and Meredith are there.