So, the idiots at Ruud, manufacturers of my parents’ air conditioner, printed out the wiring diagram with what looks to be some primitive photocopy technology closely related to thermal printing. The effect is that, although the diagram is inside the cover, it has faded to illegibility over time.
Black ink on white paper, you jerks. Choose wisely, and the image will last for hundreds of years. I’ve never seen an appliance diagram faded this badly, including stuff exposed to the elements.
So, I go online to find a new diagram, and Ruud turns out to be one of those, ahem, rude, jerkface corporations that do not put their Holy Writ online. Their diagrams are only available to anointed Members of the Trade.
I do a search on the model number, UAKA-048JAZ, and find a forum post from someone asking for the schematic of a slightly different model from the same line.
To my complete non-amazement, I see a message sneering at the supplicant for being a “ho”.
Oh, wait. Or a “diy”. That is, a home owner or do-it-yourselfer.
Now this just makes my blood boil. I am sick of the contempt the pros have for those of us who try our best to take care of this stuff ourselves. And here’s why:
When I eventually tracked down the problem (hat tip to my sister, who had experienced a similar problem in her home), it wasn’t electrical. Instead, a *spit* Professional, Licensed, Anointed, Approved, Union slob had installed a cutout switch on the drip pan. The intent was good: if the pan filled, this switch keeps the water from soaking your ceiling.
But the idiot had simply placed the pan on top of the joists, and ran a flexible drain line on top of the joist as well — and it had bowed up so that at one point it was higher than the top of the pan.
Fix: put 2 x 4 blocks under the pan to raise it up a bit.
Now, the A/C has been running for several years with this (it was a retrofit). Last time I was up in the attic (trying to do a one hour job that turned into a long weekend fixing a rat’s nest of wiring problems and oversights), that pan was dry as a bone. I don’t know why it’s ever worked, and I don’t know why it suddenly stopped working, and that scares me. It’s even likely that I myself jostled the drain line while I was up last time, upsetting some magic equilibrium because the damn drain line wasn’t fastened down — but that was weeks ago, and it’s been working fine up till yesterday.
(Oh, and another pet peeve: the drain line was exactly long enough to just barely make it outside the wall. It had pulled out of its hole, and was instead draining inside the wall. Come on, you jerks. Leave an inch or two of slack. Yes, I understand doing a neat job, which means not having loose coils laying around. But you know what? Don’t whine to me about doing a neat job when every other aspect of your work is slob-ugly and often out of code.)
But here’s the deal: Every. Single. Time. I’ve ever fixed a home problem like this, it’s either been caused by an incompetent “professional” installation, or I’ve found other problems that had to be fixed along with the main problem.
Looking back, I’ve made my share of mistakes, due to inexperience. But all of my stuff works, and as far as I know, none of my stuff will ever cause problems for the guys that come after me.
Do not ever sneer at me for being a DIY, or a HO — I cannot describe how offended I was to stumble across that last. There’s dozens of reasons I didn’t call one of you unionized twits to do the work, and price is last on the list.
Do your jobs right, and poor ignorant hos like me won’t have to spend an afternoon in a sweltering attic, or a weekend under a stinking sink, fixing your crap.
“ho”. Damn, that pisses me off.
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Update:
I’ve had to close comments on this entry due to a spam storm.