you should have seen it ..the air conditioner fiasco continues. first, mom spent a fortune on it (the day after poor suffering Suzanne left) after waiting two hours in the hot sun for the appliance shop to open. they got the last one. delivered immediately, Bert and I lugged it up the three flights of stairs. it's german made, Bosch, so though very hi-tech and sleek, it is also very, very heavy. ok, plug it in, attach the pipe, put the pipe out the window (seems counter intuative to me) and jerry-rig the window doors as closed as possible with a tea towel. but wait, the room is too open and big for efficiency...close all the doors to the other rooms, but what about the doorway sans actual door? ok, stand on a dining chair and NAIL a duvet into the wall. a nice duvet by the way. i left at this point, to go for a swim in the sea, the most effective way to stay cool i know. and a very passive way indeed. i returned a few hours later to an oven. "we overheated it". ok, the manual says when it overheats to empty the water resevoir. "there's a manual?" dear god. the drainpipe is way on the bottom of the thing and when you open it to attach the pipe, water just flows right out onto the floor. Bert lifted it (hernia!) over the mop bucket. one broken mop bucket. one wet floor. one still very hot room. ok, water empty. turn it on. HOT air out the vent, the cool air going out the window!! wait til store opens after weekend, arrange for appliance store to come take a look at it. they picked it up, figured out the thermostat had been installed backwards, were able to fix it and redeliver it that afternoon. poor old guy lugged it up the stairs. voila! it works! cool air out vent, hot air out window. but still not actually having any effect on the room. the weekend gave Mom time to buy a curtain rod and a bedsheet (aka curtain) for that nailed up duvet, however the bedsheet, depackaged, turned out to be a fitted one. found other flat sheet, pinned around curtain rod, mounted thanks again to kitchen chair. Bert decides "our real problem" is that there is no air circulation..so, unplug my fan (requiring moving of bed for access to newly purchased and much coveted extension cord) and put it way on top of the armoire..like a ceiling fan. but now, "the other problem" is that too much air is coming out/going in the window space that allows the vent out....Mom, on dining chair with broom stick, hoisting blanket to top of window. no luck. then the ladder comes out of the storage closet. ok, got that now. window covered, doorway covered, fans in place. towels-on-floor method of water draining perfected. hmm..room still not getting cool.
meanwhile, i'm on the terrace enjoying the evening drop in humidity and lovely breeze.
mom's going to unload the air conditioner on a friend tomorrow.
Posted by katemikkelsen at July 2, 2003 01:42 PM | TrackBackOne of our office buildings (the 1920 historic one) doesn't have air-conditioning which usually is not too much of a problem. But when you start putting people into the space it gets pretty warm. Anyway I rent a air-conditioner - its a stand alone - plug in vent in window and viola - really really cold air!! Not sure what the French problem is - here in America we have working equipment!!!!
Posted by: Anna at July 2, 2003 06:42 PMthe machine itself works great (now that it's been repaired), just in a much smaller room!
Posted by: kate at July 2, 2003 07:01 PM