Mary decided to ask for the Fall inspection of our HVAC unit and the technician came in to tell us there was a crack in the heat exchanger, it was leaking gas that was on fire. The temperatures were predicted to drop to 7 degrees the next night, but we had to turn off the system. The technician recommended getting heat lamps to keep water pipes from freezing, so I went to Petco and bought several.

We also bought space heaters at Lowe's to keep the ambient temperatures up for the birds and us.

Downstairs bathroom

North loft bathroom

We already had some heat lamps for the birds, but we put a heater on them too.

Heater for Mary's plants in the sunroom

We also put a heat lamp on the water hoses to the washing machine. The temperature got down to 22 degrees over night, so we were glad to have all the heaters and grateful to have electricity.

The Edmond Heat and Air guys were out the next day to dismantle the old unit. The morning temperatures were in the 20s and it got up to 42 degrees in the afternoon, before the arctic blast came through that night.

The team of workers took down a section of our wooden fence to take out the old unit and bring in the new one.

My old wooden 'sculpture'/fountain had fallen over and I put a thick piece of plywood over the hole where the fountain reservoir was to prevent someone from falling into it.

They brought in new gas line pipe in preparation for the new unit going in.

We took photos from the relative warmth of the house as the Edmond H&A workers dismantled the HVAC unit, bundled up in their cover-alls.

Pieces started stacking up.

Finally, they had removed everything that had been attached to the outflow and return ducts that go under the house.

Then they started hauling all the pieces out to the curb.

The old pad--which was too small for the new, larger unit

The remains of the old unit, at the curb

We were grateful to learn they'd been able to find a new unit available that was the appropriate size for our house. At first, they'd talked about renting a crane to lift it over the house and into position, but they didn't find one available, so old-fashioned manpower (6-man) was used to lift it off the back of the flatbed truck and carry it into place.

Unfortunately, the new unit did not have the openings for outflow and return in the same positions as the old unit.

It was getting late in the day and, after some consultation with the office, the decided to temporarily leave the unit on its wooden pallet, and turned it to face the ducts under the house.

At first, they were planning to use metal ducts to attach the unit to the house ductwork.

But after further consulting, they brought in flexible tubing.

They had to make round fittings for the rectangular holes on each end of the connections.

They also had to re-connect the gas to the new unit.

Fitting the big flexible tubes into place

Almost there

Then they used giant zip-ties to attach the tubes at each end.

At one point there were 4 trucks of guys working, in addition to the truck that brought the unit to the house.

All together and ready for testing

They assured us they'd make more elegant attachments for the power and gas lines when they did the final installation.

We were a little worried when there were some issues with getting the unit and thermostat to talk to each other, but they got those worked out and got the heat back on by about 5:30PM. That night the temperature did drop to 7 degrees, as predicted, then just kept dropping to 2-3 degrees the next afternoon, before rising to 6, then dropping back down to 4 degrees the next night. But we were toasty inside.

With the unit working fine in its temporary state, and our not pushing for the permanent installation during the cold winter months, it was March 22, 2023, before the permanent installation got scheduled. First, they had to remove the temporary conncections.

They had to expand the size of the pad for the new, larger unit and, in digging space for it, discovered one of our sprinkler heads was in the way.

Digging out space for the pad extension

They put down a bed of gravel before laying the new concrete pads in place.

I think, at first, they were thinking they could install the permanent ducts on an angle from the unit to the outflow and return ducts under the house.

The first new pad in place

They must have standard-sized sections of concrete pad and use as many as they need for a particular unit. They didn't match up exactly with the old pad, but they met the need.

Laying the second piece without smashing any fingers

They were careful to get the new pieces level on the gravel bed.

The decision was made to re-orient the unit, rather than try to angle the connections from the unit to the house ducts.

Still, some consults with the office were needed to insure the ducts were installed correctly.

They were able to use their phones to show folks in the office how the work was going.

The new ductwork configuration

Putting the pieces of the ductwork together

Once they got the pieces of ductwork together, they sealed them with tape and a gray mastic material.

The condensation drain for the old unit simply ran out onto the ground, but this time they dug a ditch, filled it with gravel and ran the drain into it.

I was very impressed with how they carefully masked the ducts before applying sealing mastic over the taped seams. When they peeled of the masking tape, it left a neat line around the edges of the sealant.

Consulting about final wiring connections

The neat sealing work

The shorter, more direct gas and electrical connections they promised for the permanent installation.

I had told them they could take out the sprinkler head and cap the line there, thinking it was PVC. But they found that the head was on a flexible line connected to the main PVC line and were able to bend the flexible line and re-buried it out and away from the HVAC pad.

The condensation drainage hole filled with gravel

Final duct installation

Another view, everything working again