A blank stare

When I got home from work yesterday I immediately noticed something wasn’t as it normally is, the air felt stagnant.  It also felt warmer than I am accustomed to.  I immediately turned my attention to the digital thermostat to see what the indoor temp was.  There was one problem, the screen was blank. WTF?

Of course I was immediately concerned so the first thing I did was verify the breakers for the air handler and AC compressor had not been tripped for some reason.  Both were firmly in the on position but I cycled them anyway.  A quick check of the thermostat revealed it was still off.  I disconnected and reseated the thermostat to the wall, just to try it and again had no positive results.

I was out of ideas so I contacted the place that normally services the AC to see if they could help me.  I got the owner, Julie, who I have dealt with many times.  I described the symptoms and she immediately told me to go check the float switch at the air handler.  Son of a bitch, there is water in there, meaning the drain line is backing up.  When water contacts the float switch it kills the thermostat, something I never knew.

I thanked Julie for the info and immediately got busy since I knew what to do.  I attached my shopvac to both sides of the drain line for an extended period of time to suck out whatever was causing the blockage.  I then dropped a cup of white vinegar into the line to hopefully keep the organic matter that clogs lines from growing.  The AC flipped on as soon as I was done and all was well. Ironically, I had my recurring “Vinegar in AC drain” Outlook reminder pop up yesterday.

I am in a zombie like state after a miserable night that included basically no sleep.  As I was growing up I knew that adult life seemed complicated and I had apprehension about how that would all work out.  Well the ultimate answer is still a work in progress but as of late I sure feel like I am hitting a lot of double and triple bogeys.  All I really want is to be slightly under par.