Deliverance!
After receiving the letter from the lawyer, Elektra responded promptly. A woman rep. phoned on Tuesday and said they would send a "special" team, the next day, and I specifically asked them to bring with them the replacement part and she said they would.
On Wednesday I received a phone call from Elektra saying that the technicians would be late, and I responded angrily. When the two technicians finally arrived they admitted that they did not have the part. But, this time one of them made several phone calls, and although they had said it was an old machine and they would have to make the part, etc. etc. it turned out that in fact they had it in store and all that was needed was to deliver it here. So they had it sent by taxi from Rishon Lezion.
The part involved is the heat exchanger, the largest part of the a-c, in fact the heart of the a-c where the cooling takes place. It is about 3 ft x 3 ft and is made of copper coils and is quite heavy. To take out the old heat exchanger, the technician climbed over the balcony, and since he was of normal height, he could reach the screws at the bottom that were holding it in. To do so he stood on the metal support of the a-c and held onto the balcony with one hand while leaning out and unscrewing the screw with his other hand, very precarious. Since the screws were rusty it was very difficult to remove them, but he managed, and then they removed the old heat exchanger from the unit. Since it would take over an hour for the part of get here (actually it took 2 in the rush hour) and since it was getting late (5 pm) they left and promised that they would return and install it in the morning. Later they called and confirmed they would be back at 8 am. When the taxi arrived I helped the driver bring the heat exchanger up and it was wrapped and shiny new.
Today (Thurs) morning the techs arrived at 8 am prompt (surprise) and they proceeded to install the new heat exchanger. Once again one of the techs stood most of the time on the metal frame that supports the a-c, hanging perilously out from the third floor with no net (see photo)! He screwed the new part in and then welded it top and bottom to the connections to the fan unit. The latter required him to be practically upside down in this situation. However, he must be used to it, because it didn't seem to faze him. Finally when all was connected, including the electrical wiring, he refilled the coil with freon, checked that there was no leak, and then turned it on. It worked perfectly and we are now basking in cold air, what a relief.
Although we suffered for 3 weeks due to the intense heat, nevertheless the repair to the a-c did not cost us anything (although we paid $750 for the service agreement in 2006). Since an estimate to repair the a-c was $500, but we were advised not to bother but simply to replace the whole unit at ca. $1500, you could say that we saved a lot of money. On the other hand, maybe something else will go out on the system either before 3/11, which is the end date of the service agreement, or after that date. Meanwhile we have a new heat exchanger, which is the unit that always goes first, so maybe we won't have any problems for another 6 years. One can live in hope. There must be other things going on in the world, but I can't think of anything else important right now.
On Wednesday I received a phone call from Elektra saying that the technicians would be late, and I responded angrily. When the two technicians finally arrived they admitted that they did not have the part. But, this time one of them made several phone calls, and although they had said it was an old machine and they would have to make the part, etc. etc. it turned out that in fact they had it in store and all that was needed was to deliver it here. So they had it sent by taxi from Rishon Lezion.
The part involved is the heat exchanger, the largest part of the a-c, in fact the heart of the a-c where the cooling takes place. It is about 3 ft x 3 ft and is made of copper coils and is quite heavy. To take out the old heat exchanger, the technician climbed over the balcony, and since he was of normal height, he could reach the screws at the bottom that were holding it in. To do so he stood on the metal support of the a-c and held onto the balcony with one hand while leaning out and unscrewing the screw with his other hand, very precarious. Since the screws were rusty it was very difficult to remove them, but he managed, and then they removed the old heat exchanger from the unit. Since it would take over an hour for the part of get here (actually it took 2 in the rush hour) and since it was getting late (5 pm) they left and promised that they would return and install it in the morning. Later they called and confirmed they would be back at 8 am. When the taxi arrived I helped the driver bring the heat exchanger up and it was wrapped and shiny new.
Today (Thurs) morning the techs arrived at 8 am prompt (surprise) and they proceeded to install the new heat exchanger. Once again one of the techs stood most of the time on the metal frame that supports the a-c, hanging perilously out from the third floor with no net (see photo)! He screwed the new part in and then welded it top and bottom to the connections to the fan unit. The latter required him to be practically upside down in this situation. However, he must be used to it, because it didn't seem to faze him. Finally when all was connected, including the electrical wiring, he refilled the coil with freon, checked that there was no leak, and then turned it on. It worked perfectly and we are now basking in cold air, what a relief.
Although we suffered for 3 weeks due to the intense heat, nevertheless the repair to the a-c did not cost us anything (although we paid $750 for the service agreement in 2006). Since an estimate to repair the a-c was $500, but we were advised not to bother but simply to replace the whole unit at ca. $1500, you could say that we saved a lot of money. On the other hand, maybe something else will go out on the system either before 3/11, which is the end date of the service agreement, or after that date. Meanwhile we have a new heat exchanger, which is the unit that always goes first, so maybe we won't have any problems for another 6 years. One can live in hope. There must be other things going on in the world, but I can't think of anything else important right now.
posted by Jack Cohen at 8:54 PM
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