When I came home from California on Monday, the Megetable (alternative name for Redras) had the swamp cooler running. The apartment was nice and cool. Unfortunately, lately the swamp cooler has been spitting our brown, dirty swamp water. It's also been spitting dirty flecks of what looks like paint chips into the room.
But I think later Monday night, at one point we turned the swamp cooler off and then on again. Suddenly the house filled with this strong, strong smell of burning rubber. I immediately turned the thing off and called the landlord.
The landlord had the neighbors (who receive a rent deduction to take care of household things) look at it. The neighbor guy said he figured he knew what the problem was and got the parts he needed to have it fixed. I was at work, but the Megetable said that it worked for about twenty minutes and then began to emit the stench of burning rubber. (It's so bad, by the way, that you have to air out the whole house after it runs for about 10 seconds. I only wish I were exaggerating.)
So a professional guy (friend of our landlord's?) came to fix it yesterday. He seemed pretty competant and confident. When he was done, he said he needed a part and would come back the next day to fix the rest.
He came back today and got it all fixed. I waited till he was done to take my nap. When he left, I set it on low and went to sleep to the sweet, sweet humming of cool air.
And woke up in a pool of my own sweat, hearing no humming at all. Yes, my friends. The swamp cooler is still broken.
7 comments:
ARGH, not cool in the literal or metaphorical sense.
My sincerest apologies. I refuse to move to any place without air conditioning. Heat I can live without, air conditioning, no way.
Our swamp cooler broke last summer, and it was a couple days before our landlord finally sent someone over to fix it.
Lucky for us, they fixed it right the first time, but unlucky for us, we lived on the third floor and it was unbearably hot. We spent one night at my parents' house because it was too hot to sleep in our apartment.
Hopefully they fix it for you soon, and for real this time.
Right after my wife and I got married we moved into an apartment in Irving, TX. That summer was the hottest summer of my life. We would set the a/c at 50 degrees and it never broke 90 in our pad. It wasn't until we had spent several hundred dollars on electricty that we found out in the spring the a/c units sucked. The complex replaced all of the air conditioning. From then on out, we lived at a comfortable 72 degrees.
Welcome to the ever-increasing club. I woke up this morning worried that I was caught in the middle of a tornado. That's what you get when you have five different fans to compensate for your broken air conditioning.
Oh the horror, the horror! I CANNOT live without some working A/C. Our swamp cooler doesn't really seem to be cutting it this summer...but it's doing something, and not burning rubber. Ugh.
Darling Cicada, when I read about you walking on University Avenue in your nice clothes in the heat, oh, the unbearable heat, I thought about e-mailing you to let you know that if you are ever in the city to the north looking for a job or hanging out and need a ride or a couch to crash on, you are more than welcome in my cottage. Now, I must also add, that if you want to sleep on the couch in my cottage's basement, you are more than welcome, as my central air works well, and it is usually 73* in the basement of my lovely cottage. If you need my #, call DaltonGirl. I will look past the fact that you are Canadian, and I will love you as an individual.
at my house we have no air conditioning. no swamp cooler. nothing. i suppose you can call the fan in my bedroom somewhat relieving, but it's a stretch. my next project is to convince my parents, ever cautious of new-fangled things like dishwashers and microwaves, to install some kind of cooling device.
i feel your pain.
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