Facie’s Ramblings

Right now I am sitting here waiting for two HVAC companies to give me revised quotes. We originally met with four different companies, one of which was our current one, another was recommended by a friend, and the other two we found via the Monroeville Home Show. This process is nothing like when we got new windows two years ago, which was challenging enough for me. We have received quotes for five different brands (Carrier, Comfortmaker by Carrier, Bryant, Lennox, and Trane). And the varying options are almost dizzying (single-stage or two-stage, 95 or 96 percent efficient, ECM or some other motor, 13 SEER or 16 SEER). Prior to last week, I had no idea there were so many variances. Last month, during our annual furnace inspection, we found out that our heat exchanger was cracked, something that happened when we first bought the house. Since our furnace is 21-plus years old, over-sized, hardly efficient (80 percent, which furnace people say is really much lower due to the age and...

In the middle of January, I blogged about how my 2.5-year-old tires had worn out with fewer than 27,000 miles on them.  When I got my new/replacement tires, I tried to convince the Flynn guy that rather than my paying his quoted price of $500 to replace the tires, I instead should pay less than half of what the last set cost, which was a little less than $750 (so less than $375; you are welcome for the math). The Flynn guy explained that Goodyear does not make those tires anymore, so I needed to be moved up to a better (i.e., more expensive) tire, and on top of that the price of rubber has gone up. But, he said, if I used my Goodyear credit card, I could get a $120 rebate, so in his eyes I would be paying about half of the original tire cost. His answer did not satisfy me, but I dropped it. Until two days ago. We started pricing furnaces because our heat exchanger cracked (remind me again what is so great about home ownership?). With this latest, large expense and having to he...