no heat but I do have bread

I still don't have any heat and it's a mite cold in here but since it's 10 degrees warmer outside tonight, it's not as bad inside either.

As you can see here, the repair fellow did make a visit to see me. He checked out the underbelly of the house first since that's where the periodic ills of my HVAC system are usually found.

While he was there he dropped the fan speed of the unit. The thing had been set so high it was like a gale was blowing through the house everytime the heat or A/C went on. And the noise!

However despite careful and studious examination of the system, no problems were to be found. Thereupon the examination made its way to the outside unit.




Yep, that's the inside of the outside unit. That makes for a rather confusing sentence, y'know?

Most of the unit is empty space but the outer rim is lined with heat exchange coils like the radiator of a car. But it was the tubing in the middle that contained our errant part.

The repairman told me it was quite unusual for this to happen but one of the copper pipes that conducts the freon-type gas had sprung a leak. When that happens, he explained to me, it's usually a pinhole leak--but not in this case. You could hear it hissing to beat the band as soon as he tried to pump more gas in. I've got a picture of the hole right down there below. It's the size of a small machine screw hole. For something like this, that's huge.



And for a change of topic, here's the loaf of bread I baked this evening, after the repair person finished up. It's another of the no-knead breads. This time I increased the recipe ingredients by 33%, dropped the temp to 450f, and increased the bake time by 5 minutes covered and 10 minutes for the uncovered part. I also brushed on olive oil before baking and sprinkled it with kosher salt. It tastes pretty good. I ate half the loaf this evening while watching Pirates of the Caribbean 2.

Comments

srp said…
So when are they going to replace the tube? Wonder why it broke in the first place?

The bread looks scrumptious but not low carb or low cal. Hmm.. I should really know better than to come here in the middle of the night when everyone is in bed and see this food and get hungry.... I will resist.

Get warm... I still say an electric blanket for just these times of emergency is a good idea.
Anonymous said…
Now you know all those carbs aren't good for you! But it looks scrumptious.
So sorry for the no heat situation. Been there done that. We love our new heat pump. It is so much quieter than the furnace but slightly cooler. Not bad though. The main difference is that when it gets really cold and the electric furnace kicks it, it is cooking my houseplants! I have to water almost every day during the really cold spells and it used to be once a week!
Good luck getting it back on!
Craver said…
So when will you have heat Utenzi?

And please pass the bread, it looks perfect.
Anonymous said…
I hope you get heat back soon!

There's no milk in your bread, is there? I should have a go at making some. I get a bad stomach when eating bread usually (yet it's fine toasted... weird!).
Anonymous said…
Looks delicious.

The bread, not the hole. It seems whenever something mechanical goes, it's something unusual -- so many parts it could be I suppose.
Anonymous said…
Hope you feel warm again. I do not like coldness, so I assume others do not either.

Nice Bread Loaf!! I wish I could bake some.
utenzi said…
Thanks, Mariam. The bread is really easy to make and tastes good.

No milk in the bread, Nikki, so it's safe for you to make. Just flour, salt, yeast and water.
kenju said…
You have to stop this. First someone talks about making custard and now you show bread? I'll never get to sleep!

Hope you have heat soon.
Olyal said…
Once again... What's the deal with the kosher salt?
carmilevy said…
When our furnace died a couple of months back, I remember watching the weather forecast intently, hoping that it wouldn't go below freezing.

About $500 later, we had a new gas valve (yeah, frightening) and all returned to normal. I never appreciated heat as much as I did then.

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