razr390 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 02, 2022 11:08 am
So, on October 30 we wrote to LL because the air conditioner wasn't, well, conditioning. This time it was cooler out so we realized that while it stopped blowing cold, it also wouldn't blow hot. LL calls home warranty company, they send a tech out, states unit needs to be replaced because the outdoor unit and indoor unit are mismatched, and it has a coil leak. COOL. Then 2 weeks later we get this major nasty weather including cold front (talking like high 30's low 40's LOWS and mid 50's HIGHS in San Antonio, and CLOUDY/grey all day. At night we would need heat and the LL said "oh the system has emergency/auxiliary heat, look for that option."
House had a Nest thermostat and I googled how to access that function. "Auxiliary heat lockout, the thermostat will determine when to turn it on based on aLgOrIthM" fine. So we turned the heat on. Eventually, the system turns on the auxiliary heat function, and it worked! However, it would require the system to run for some time doing "nothing" trying to convince the heat pump to work. Once it tries long enough with no change in thermostat temp, it kicks on the heat.
A few nights of that, and then comes the night of 11/22. We put kiddo to sleep. One cat was upstairs in our bed (his nightly ritual) and he waits for us to come to bed. Other cat was with us downstairs and we decided to watch Elf. Normally after I put kiddo to sleep, my wife either works on her craft stuff or she goes downstairs to chill. I usually "wait for kiddo to fall asleep" in our bed, and sometimes that ends up with me falling asleep too.
Anyways, we are sitting on couch watching movie, eating some food, and then we hear what I can describe as a popcorn noise. I thought it was the cat fucking up the carpet upstairs, and then our cat with us BOLTS UP from laying down, LASER focuses on the stairs, and SPRINTS up. I think they're gonna go fight and wake the kiddo, so I run after her.
I get to the top of the stairs and I hear the popping sound and I don't see any of the cats. I look across the loft at the back wall of it and see sparks/flashing behind the door (through the gaps of the door) and I am like "OH, FUCKIN.. NOPE" yell downstairs "BABE CALL 911, THERE'S A FIRE" and then I get the kiddo (she was scared by being woken up, but not due to smoke/fire) and ran downstairs. Wife in her adrenaline brings me a pot of water and I said THAT WON'T HELP. She calls 911, tells them our address, we open the garage door in case we need to get the car out, and she waits outside with kiddo.
I run back in to get our fire suppression/extinguisher (its one of those spray ones, mostly for kitchen fires, but my instincts/adrenaline just takes me to where they're at) and I try to go upstairs to find the cats, realize I should probably not touch the door knob/open the door barehanded so I go back downstairs to get oven mitt, and then I go back upstairs and there's smoke now filling the entire second floor/loft. Look under bed for cats, can't find them. Go downstairs and wife is just distraught worried about the cats... I go up once more and realize that I cannot see my hand if I held it a few inches in front of me. I prayed that their self-preservation instincts keep them low.
Fire department responds in under 5 minutes, which we are so thankful for. They go and do their thing. The final determination was that the power supply box leading to the air handler unit in the HVAC closet might've shorted, but that's just at a quick glance. They won't fully inspect the unit or do forensics at the lab. Investigator said if it was running aux/electrical or running for longer (aka heat pump failure to turn on auxiliary heat) it could've contributed to overloading/working the power supply box; if the fuse was original they just erode/chip/etc. over time so it probably was literally flinging lightning bolts inside the supply box, melted and caught fire.
The fire itself was mostly contained to the HVAC closet and the 4 walls that connect to other parts of the house (specifically one wall of our master closet, two to an adjacent bedroom which is my wife's office, and then the loft wall. Whatever wasn't damaged by the fire was completely damaged by the smoke, or the water from the firefighting. Every air vent on 2nd floor was also smashed to ensure heat/flame wasn't spreading. House is completely fucked. FD estimated $60-80k+ in damages. Inspector/adjuster said probably more.
We are in a hotel (well, wife and kiddo went to Florida but will come back soon) until 12/15, our renter's insurance paid us out right away (thank god) and we are now just going day by day to salvage what we can. We are obviously breaking the lease (well, mutually) and getting our deposit/move in costs minus the first month back. We also found a new place like 6 houses away in the same neighborhood to rent and are in the application process of it. Cats are fine, we found them once the fire was out, cleverly hiding in full self preservation mode. One of them smelled like BBQ for a few days.
I have a junk hauler contact who is taking whatever is unsalvageable in his trailer and takes it to the dump for like $60. Returned the couch to Costco for our money back, and just saving whatever we can and packing it in those heavy duty Costco containers. Clothes will be washed at some point, but not right now.
What a mess. This was an accident, but we are still obviously at some point upset with LL because this issue took so long that once they would've replaced the unit it might not have happened. We just want to move into the new place and settle in before we even dedicate more braincells to trying to figure out what we could do legally beyond it.
said was I was thinking but with more detail.
application, but not our design choice. The house even had natural gas for a fireplace and grill and stove, yet not for HVAC, water heater, or dryer. It was in the middle of the PA gas/fracking industry too, gas was everywhere. 
builder/customer spec'ed out weird things, maybe to save a few nickels on the original build?
I can forgive the dryer since thats not a huge expense, but the HVAC? 
) or heat pumps, or whatever. This seems to apply to an entire region that really doesn't seem to make any sense. 
about their efficiency? 
), and a wood stove. The baseboard heaters kill the electric bill more than anything because the house is a raised ranch and the living room and the wife's office are partially below grade, so she always has those at least one of those bad boys going. I should install a split system down there.
