i think our heat is broken again.
i felt a little chilly last night but didn't think much of it. i thought i was just tired. but this morning i felt cold air blowing out of the vents, though the thermostat was still reading "68", right where we had set it. by looking at the thermostat it seemed it was still working (previously the temperature in the house quickly dropped below 68 when the cold air started spilling out), but who knows. the cold air confuses me.
i looked more closely at the thermostat just before i left this morning and i saw that the unit was set to "cool", not "heat". which is curious, because neither ray or i have touched the damn thing. so i flipped it back over to "heat" but i still felt cold air as i was walking out the door. hrm.
i guess we'll see what the situation is when i get home.
thankfully my final bid for the replacement of the whole unit came in today, so i feel like i have all the information i need to make my decision.
the final bids: (drumroll, please)
carolina heating & cooling: $9200
accu-air: $7785
griles: $5800
so i just called troy griles and told him he's got the job. part of me worries that i shouldn't be picking the cheapest bidder, but since he's gotten such high recommendations from my persnickety neighbor i'm going to tell myself not to worry too much.
here's a picture of the gas pack i'll be getting. isn't it beautiful? you can click the picture to learn more about it, if you find that kind of thing interesting.
as a bonus, i'm looking forward to not having to deal with freon. i'm also looking forward to spending $4k less than the highest bid.
initially i was unsure how i was going to pay for all of this. griles will help me finance through the gas company (who is coming out next week to lay the gas line to the house), but they charge, like 12% interest. so i thought about just putting it on my credit card, but that has 9.9% interest which still seemed kind of high to me. so i called my credit card company just before christmas and asked if they'd lower the rate for me... and they said yes. to 7.9%. so i figured i had it made.
then i got a credit card solicitation in the mail offering 5.9%. i usually just throw those offers right in the trash, but this was timed right and caught my eye. so i just called them and got hooked up: 5.9% on all purchases, cash advances, balance transfers... plus i earn 'world points'. which are a type of frequent flier miles, i think.
so there you go. terribly exciting stuff, i know. only joy is on the edge of her seat.
speaking of joy, check out her new blog!
i have to share this tip with all of my curly-haired friends. this is the only product i've found that will keep my hair in decent shape during this dry weather. i use the entire 'curl friends' line now... shampoo, conditioner, gel... everything. it's expensive, but worth it. i would love to not have to use any sticky product in it at all, but i can only do that when it's reasonably humid outside. i kind of want the hot humid summer weather back, just because my hair loves it.
plus my furnace would love to take a break, i'm sure.
i wonder if griles would cut me a deal on repairing the current outage (if there really is one) now that i've promised him $5800.
Posted by xta at January 2, 2004 10:01 AM | TrackBack