@JohnS
Pushing and pulling wire is very difficult without help. If you already know that you need an electrician, why not let their apprentice gain some work hours and more experience at little cost to yourself? Give yourself some rest too
It all boils down to money. I don't have enough to pay for the work I need done.
Unfortunately electricians charge by the hour. Even for their helpers crawling around under the house.
I've already costed it out. I've got a little set aside that will cover the cost of the work that I am going to have done, but it's just not enough to cover having the electrician (or his helper) pull the wire.
]]>Back when I was house-poor and couldn't afford to hire trades (except in emergencies) I had some younger friends who would be a second set of hands if I provided beer and pizza afterwards.
]]>I've already costed it out. I've got a little set aside that will cover the cost of the work that I am going to have done, but it's just not enough to cover having the electrician (or his helper) pull the wire.
Back when I was house-poor and couldn't afford to hire trades (except in emergencies) I had some younger friends who would be a second set of hands if I provided beer and pizza afterwards.
I did too. Most of those "younger friends" are in their 70s by now. Even my "baby brother" is 68.
My sister has a son & I thought about asking him to help before I realized he's over 40 ... plus, he's bigger than me (6'4" to my 5'10½) and I don't think he could fit. 😏
Anyway, I got the wire pulled (with plenty of slack on the outside), so I won't have to get back under there until the electrician comes & I have to move the other wire.
I'm so sore right now I'm going to wait until after Christmas to call & schedule the electrician. Give myself some time to recover.
]]>https://phys.org/news/2023-12-team-transistors-ferroelectricity-based-polarity-switchable.html
]]>Unfortunately electricians charge by the hour. Even for their helpers crawling around under the house.
Forgot about this part, they need to be licensed and bonded, and every hour is probably charged at the same rate.
I have also done the same as Robert Prior suggested - but your story specifically reminded me of helping my father a bit with a much smaller project back when he was about your nephew's age.
Anyway, I got the wire pulled
Cheers! Season's Greetings! :-)
]]>Here in the area where JohnS and I live, electricians, plumbers, etc... are booked out anywhere from weeks to months. And that's for jobs that take a week or more. For a full day they might try and slip you into a gap. For less than a day, well good luck. It is a sellers market for such trades for the last few years. And not getting better. Demand for new buildings / houses is out striping supply.
My son in law has been ghosted by two different contractors after agreeing on a price.
Says he who spent three hours on my roof with my son in law this afternoon repairing a rain leak. Had to replace a facia board which had rotted out due to a poor roof design detail from 1961.
]]>Not sure of what you mean with this?
And not trying to start another antipope heat pump war.
]]>You need younger younger friends, then :-)
]]>Small US data point but still ...
Growing up around home building and self installed AC units in the 60s and onward, leaking refrigerant used to be a thing. But I've see very little of it for the last decade or two. I think everyone (in the US) has stepped up their game (required?) and systems just don't leak like they used to. They tend to mechanically wear out before they leak any noticeable amount of refrigerant. After 20-30 years.
]]>I'd guess the compressor is about that stage, and I'm sure that the repeated cycling between frozen and thawed hasn't helped.
Would you suggest it is more likely the compressor is leaking, rather than the piping?
Or is there something else that could be causing everything to freeze after running for an hour or two in high temperatures? Probably faster in 90%+ humidity, but similar on relatively drier days
The resistive furnace is another 20-30 years older, and is eminently repairable with available parts. Very inefficient, but the cold is easier dealt with cheaply by adding more clothing and blankets
]]>Single data points are hard. Most heat pumps wear out after about 20 years. They live a hard life. My son just got to replace his last spring on the house he bought a year earlier. They were from 2004.
You may put refrigerant into your unit only to have it totally seize up in a day or month.
As to leaking, I'm using an indirect measurement. Back in the 60s and 70s there were a lot of independent HVAC guys who made a lot of their money recharging AC units. Gradually this business went away as units got better. And the federal government put stricter standards in place. For the most part. These folks were like a lot of US WWII vets who had learned skills in the service and then applied them as a way to make extra income from their "normal" jobs. HVAC, painting, plumbing, electronics repair (back when that was a thing and a TV had TUBES, etc... My father hired a lot of them based to do home building bits based on knowing them at the plant where he worked.
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