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Hindsight is kicking my rear end today. I hate having to say, “I should have listened to you.” With my husband who seems to be the prognosticator of prognosticators, I end up saying it a lot. Here’s the newest thing.
So we moved into this house when the baby above was just a bean — almost 11 years ago. It wasn’t my “forever house” at the time but it’s slowly becoming so. We’ve done a lot of great things to the house, such as install hardwood floors throughout and we also put in a pool. Six months ago, my dear sweet husband told me we needed to start thinking about getting a new heat pump. Oh, how I fought this. Ours was still ticking and we had no major concerns on the horizon. We also didn’t have $5K+ to shell out for something new so I kissed my knuckles and rolled the dice.
Yesterday when my sister and I got home after a long drive, I didn’t even notice how hot the house was until we settled in to watch The Lego Movie. The kids were cold from swimming and I thought I was hot from the car. Well, it seems our heat pump decided to kick the bucket. My husband didn’t get home from work until late and within 10 seconds he noticed the heat. Luckily he knew of a 24-hour service man and got the guy to come out, check the heat pump, and try to fix the parts that apparently disintegrated right in his hand.
Here are the choices:
The Red: It’s going to cost about $6,000 to replace the heat pump. The benefit is that we’ll have a much more efficient system, replacing our current one which is apparently supposed to work on a trailer that is half the size of our house. The downfall is that, well, I don’t have $6,000 to throw at a new one. It would have to be credit.
The White: We could repair ours for about $800. No guarantees on how long that band-aid will stick. Should we just get it fixed and hope for the best, saving up for a new unit when this one cannot be resurrected?
The Blue: My poor husband is gritting his teeth in order not to say, “I told you this would happen.” He’s been extremely sweet about it, taking it into his list of things to do on a busy workday.
Yes, I realize that AC is a completely optional thing. My husband cannot stand the heat. For a guy who works really hard to provide for our family, it’s a luxury that I don’t want him to do without.
Ah, the joys of home ownership!
So friends, enter that Pinterest giveaway shown at the top of this post. I’m hoping that your 4th of July will be a little cooler…er, sparklier….with that Amazon gift card!
Ugh, I feel for you. We had to get the capacitor replaced on our heat pump 2 years ago when our AC died (cost $200). Then, our AC died again this summer. My husband did some youtube-ing and figured it was our capacitor again. He bought the part himself ($25!) and replaced it himself thanks to youtube. We saved alot of money this time around. But I wonder how much longer this heat pump will last. It’s super old and you’re right, super-expensive for a new one!
It’s great that your husband fixed it via YouTube!! My hubs does that kind of thing sometimes. He has made it last a long time, far longer than it should have. Crossing my fingers that yours makes it longer, too!
(PS. Capacitor just makes me think of Back to the Future.)
Way to keep a bad experience festive. :). I’m sorry though. Things breaking, unexpected expenses, and hindsight are not fun. It’s the other way in our house. I’m worried about our a/c and my husband thinks it will last another year. I hope he’s right but he said that last year, too. The Fourth is the time for ice cream….sounds like you need a gallon of the good stuff.