Power out, again

[avram]

So at around 2:45 AM I realized that I was staying up too late web browsing again, and shut everything off, turned the air conditioner on, and went to bed. Around 3, I hear a female voice, just barely, over the sound of the air conditioner. I realize it’s coming from inside the apartment, a message being left on my answering machine. Must be my mother with some kind of urgent news, right, ’cause no salesman would call someone at 3 AM. Wrong. AT&T with some stupid bullshit or other. The message ends, I turn the air conditioner back on, and my power goes out. What the fuck? There’s just no rational reason for this!

Last time this happened it was 1 AM, and when I called the super his wife told me he’d be here at 5. I’ve left my number on his beeper, but I’m going to phone him at home at 5 anyway. I just plain can’t believe how awful the electrical system in this apartment is.

Comments

D'oh! Lousy circuit breakers...

[webbob.livejournal.com]

I would guess that your air conditioner is powered through a defective circuit breaker. The scenario would be that a relatively large spike is being induced in the circuit when the air conditioner starts up, nudging the circuit breaker out of the fully connected position. Eventually it gets one nudge too many, maybe because your fridge happens to start at the same time or because the supply voltage was dipping, the breaker trips, and you have to wait for a fix that seems to be pretty easy for the landlord to make, once he gets there. Or do I have that wrong?

The other part of this is of course the air conditioner. How old is your current unit, and when was it last cleaned or otherwise serviced? A newer unit might not exacerbate the breaker problem as much, might even be more efficient and save a little more power, if your current AC is more than four years or so old.

Anyway, I'm awfully glad for my window unit. Now that I have the eMac in the bedroom with the AC, perhaps I'll get more sitting up and paying attention time in, vs. browsing absent mindedly while half-watching Invader ZIM.