To be honest I simply couldn't face posting any more about the avalance of complete and utter suck that descended on me after the Great Lack Of Heat Pipe Fiasco, what with the slings and arrows being at a level not seen since the French decided to show the English a thing or two in the line of getting a good kicking at Agincourt.
But I have rallied and recovered1.
When last I enthralled you my dear webspider2 I stated that I was in need of a discontinued Aquastat Relay to make this never-to-be-sufficiently-damned Slant Fin furnace start working again instead of periodically going on strike for whatever it thought it could get out of management.
Well, I finally tracked down said part, bought it3 and called John the Plumber, who came over that evening and made a solid attempt to fit it.
It would not work.
John said I should return the Aquastat Relay to the local plumbing supply place where I got it, and since he was at the end of his tether4 that I should contact a not-so local appliance service center and explain the problem.
Turns out I had two problems.
The first problem was the need to fund the service center technician with close to a thousand bux before he'd do tghe necessary. Easily fixed with yet anothert dip into Stevie's Bottomless Money Bucket, though the tech complained the entire time about the amount of howling, wailing and gnashing of teeth he had to put up with while effecting repairs.
But finally the job was done and the furnace, having had every part not actually cast into its superstructure replaced, decided that any more mutinous behavoir might be rewarded with a trip to the dump after a cosmetic thumping with my sledgehammer and fired up for the several hours it took to get everything toasty warm again.
The second problem was that the local plumbing stuff supply guy refused to refund my money for the non-working Aquastat Relay. It would have to go back to Honeywell, he said. It would have to be tested, he said. Only then would he refund the money I'd laid out, he said.
It was clear from the way he poked his face into the works and started furiously sniffing for all he was worth that he thought I'd tried to fit the bloody thing myself and had shorted the electronics and fried them.
John the Plumber called to see if the service center had fixed things. I told him about the plumbing supply place issue and he got very cross. Turns out he knows the guy who owns the place, so he offered to go down and explain the facts. Which he did and I got a call to say the refund was waiting for me and thank you very much John the Plumber.
The builders meanwhile had decided that they would not tear out all he sheetrock in the hallway, but would put a skim coat of spackle on it, smooth it and paint.
These guys were in love with spackle. If it had been a bit warmer we could have done the job properly and had huge fans exhausing through the windows. As it was we had to make do with propping the front door open while they worked, with the end result that the entire house was coated with spackle dust. I'm still cleaning it up.
They did an OK job, but missed a few spots, but I was so heartily sick of the process by then that I gave them a check and moved them out of the way so I could work it myself. The bannister was also put back slightly off-slope. It annoys the piss out of me but not enough to pull it off and redo it. Yet.
The electrician did some extra work for me, wiring for the new ceiling fan in the front bedroom5 and a new hall light that Mrs Stevie declared great, and eventually I was able to buy and install a fan.
Which was whan I discovered that the switched socket was now permanently switched off.
The other electrician came round and fixed it in a jiffy, but while he was working Mrs Stevie noticed his van door was ajar and helpfully slammed it shut.
A sad mistake. Turned out the door handles on all the doors were broken off, so it was vital that the doors not be closed unless someone was inside the vehicle.
Fortunately, several of the windows were missing too, so the electrician, still smiling bravely theough his own personal sucky Sunday, ripped off the taped plastic standing in for safety glass and climbed in. I was expecting a police officer to hove into view and misunderstand the nature of the crisis, but for some reason the anti-handiman demons turned off the Farce faucet.
All that remained now was to get some furniture, remove an old air conditioner from the wall, put in a new one, repair the bits the builders had left unrepaired and I could look forward to a cool, happy summer.
February had brought high winds that ripped yet more shingles off the roof, reminding me that we had not heard a dicky-bird from the roof guy who had been so enthusiastic about pulling off the roof in mid-December.
It was time to do some shopping around.
- Mostly↑
- Both real readers of this blog switched to watching cat videos on ticktock yonks ago↑
- 260 bux neatly siphoned from Stevie's Bottomless Money Bucket↑
- I don't blame him one bit by the way; in his place I would have told me to mount my velocipede and start pedalling - he had gone above and beyond and only been reimbursed for some of his time.↑
- Scene of indoor waterfalls, collapsing sheetrock, innundation etc.↑
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