Gripe Time

I occurred to me Sunday that I haven't posted on this blog in a while. I must confess that most of my time and energy has been going into my family blog or my facebook page. This blog was supposed to be about me, my gripes, my cheers, my jeers...

So here's a gripe. Two years ago my Husband & I replaced all of the water treatment equipment in our backyard except for our water pressure tank which recently was rusting out. So much so, that it had sprung numerous leaks over the last few months. Every time this happened. Mike (my husband) had to shut off our water, drain the tank, patch the tank, let it dry and then turn the water back on and hope the patch held. Sunday, the pressure tank sprang another leak. Mike tried to patch it again but it wouldn't hold. The tank was beyond repair. We had no choice, we had to shut off our water completely overnight.

Now I didn't know this, but apparently you need water to run the heat pump that heats our house. So once we shut the water off, we also had to shut off the heat! Sunday night was going to be our coldest winter night yet! A record breaking 27* was being forecast! Brrrr!

I bundled up my girls with warm pajamas, sweaters, socks, slippers and topped them with 5 blankets each. I checked them three times that night just to make sure they were all covered up. I bundled myself up the same. Pajamas, sweater, socks, slippers. Amazingly, it wasn't too bad. The thermostat read 60* when we got up Monday morning. So it could've been worse. We turned the water on just long enough to get through our morning routines and then shut it off again.

Monday night after work -with a little help from our neighbor- Mike FINALLY replaced the tank. What a relief! So now we have glorious uninterrupted streaming water from our taps again and not in our backyard.... but now our heat pump isn't working! I'm afraid all this 'on and off' nonsense with the water burnt it out! So now we have had TWO NIGHTS WITHOUT HEAT! Tonight will be our THIRD!

Our AC/HP unit is 15 years old, which is ancient. For the last few years our summer electric bills have become more costly. Mike & I were going to bite the bullet and replace our entire unit this spring before our ninety degree temperatures returned. I never could have imagined that unseasonably cold weather would be a problem! Normally our unit isn't even running this time of year! Now, here I am freezing my buns off, fighting the urge to go buy a space heater!

We called the company that gave us the best quote for a new ac unit, handler and heat pump. Venice Heating & Cooling is pulling the necessary permits and will be here next Friday to replace our inefficient unit with a brand spankin' new one! Hopefully, we're up and running before the next cold front plows through. If not, we will survive. Thankfully, this current Arctic Blast is supposed to loosen it's grip on Florida. We're supposed to have temperatures in the 70's by this weekend. It's so funny the way things work out. A few short days ago I was enjoying this cold snap! Now, I can't wait for it to end!