So, I have become the proud owner of a 1996 Pontiac Grand Am. Which is wonderful, I'm very glad not to have to walk and bike everywhere in the insane heat, and I get to feel like an actual grown up with a car, and insurance, and registration and all that other good car-owner stuff. Except that there is a mysterious puddle on the floor in the front seats. Nice. I posted a question to the Car Talk website and the theory is that the AC evaporation drain tube is clogged up and that this is a trivial and inexpensive thing to fix. Great news, except now I to find a mechanic who will not screw me over, or find some mechanically minded person who can help me fix this in exchange for a beer.
The funny thing is, if it were an electrical problem, I'd be more or less ok with figuring out the problem on my own. But AC mystifies me.
School is moving along. I had drinks with another grad student from the CS department and her husband last night, and we bemoaned the high rate of scary conservatism in the area and the general lack of decent ethnic food (except, oddly enough, Indian and Japanese food. Go figure). I'm actually done with my homework through tomorrow, so tonight I'm going on a tour of colonial Williamsburg with the law school dean, and I should have time to, gasp, knit and/or spin this weekend. Hurray! That'll be the best birthday present to myself ever. This afternoon I'm going to start on my reading for Monday, I'll try to get everything for Monday and Tuesday done by the end of the day tomorrow, and then I can have a halfway decent semi-celebratory weekend.
Which would be a lot more fun had I not just balanced my check book. Yeesh. Buying Clovis was a huge financial disaster, but what choice did I really have? I wonder if my landlady will take a constructive rent check?
3 comments:
AC/Refrigeration System in Brief:
Hot refrigerant comes out of the compresser at high pressure as a gas. The outside air temperature is cooler than the boiling/condensing temperature of the refrigerant, so when air is blown across the coils of refrigerant it condenses into a liquid. The condensing process injects heat into the air.
The now liquid refrigerant flows through a restricting valve, reducing the pressure considerably. It flows into the cooling coils. The air temp in the fridge/car is higher than the new boiling point, so the refrigerant starts boiling. As it boils, it sucks up the heat in the air, cooling it.
The refrigerant is compressed so the heat can rejected in the condenser. Voila, the 2nd law of thermodynamics in action!
If the dew point of the air is above the surface temperature of the cooling coils, water will condense on them. If it isn't drained off the coils don't cool as well and corrosion can occur.
Either the cooling chamber has over filled with water and is spilling or the tube is draining into your car. It is a non-scary problem.
Does that help?
Yup! =)
Now I just need to figure out how to fix the tube.
Yay for automotive repairs at home!
Glad I could help!
luks lyk fur yurs enginin schul dun som-in.
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