Our HVAC trials continue. The new hot water pump for the system that we had on order for two months turned into a four-month wait. In the meantime, the patched-up old pump blew out and had to be re-patched, after wasting thousands of gallons of water. Then the new pump arrived the week before last. Then a case of butterfingers busted something and led to a postponement of the re-installation. Today it was supposed to be installed again--and started leaking immediately. Now the installation has been postponed again until tomorrow, while the techs make a five- or six-hour round trip for parts.
Meanwhile, the week before last we also had technicians checking out our hot water lines over the ceiling. They cleared some gunk and got the water flowing more freely. And then the water started leaking around several failing valves. This, plus the installation of the new hot water pump, made it necessary to drain our hot water lines so that we've had no heat whatsoever in the building for well over a week now. We've left the air handler unit shut off for most of that time so that we at least don't have cold air blasting through the building. So, no circulating air, and everybody has been wearing jackets at work. At least the weather has generally been mild. Now we're running into a spell of colder weather.
Still hoping we can finally have the heat back on soon, and that the air handler unit doesn't flake out when we try to turn it back on after several days of inactivity. Its motor is on its last legs, and we've got a replacement for that on order as well. Will the old unit last that long?
Yesterday I saw a quote for a comprehensive overhaul of the system. It's well above the cost threshold that requires us to put a project out for bid. Even though we know that for all practical purposes there's nobody else in the region who could do the job. This process will take weeks. I've asked them just to do the minimum patching up needed to get the system running, to buy time to address the more comprehensive overhaul.
