I'd return the bon aire and get the big boys. $260 vs $500. But that's just me. Again, I do not use my a/c at all except during high humidity days out in Reno (which only happens after a rain storm). I believe... it would cost $10 a month if ran 24hours a day vs $100 a month if ran a/c 24hours a day.
Your week sounds like ours, AC went out, dog has spine problems, (hind leg weakness) things just keep coming! We are fortunate, the AC, 31 years old, only cost $130 to get it fixed, and the dog appears to be doing better.
Find a friend or someone who uses evap cooler for their house. If you want to see mine in action, I can PM you my # and we can discuss. I prefer evap cooler over A/C but it's personal preference.
Find someone with evap, see if you like it.
The whole house versions are fantastic (cheap to run, tropical evening breeze, adding humidity to the air which is healthy for skin & lungs, etc). The hang in the window ones are nice too but prone to breakage and pain to do maintenance on. Portables good for emergency purposes to get A/C back in operation.
if you get into evap coolers...you will learn HUMIDITY is it's weakness. hence, gotta get the humidified air created by the evap cooler out of the house. Also, when it rains outside, the efficiency drops (still works but not as great) because of the outdoor humidity going through an already wet evap cooler bringing even more humidity into house.
Just had the opportunity to speak with @Holbs who really has helped us to get through what is probably going to be a long ordeal - every plumber is booked solid. Thanks, @Holbs !
It is a Trane 1200 XL. Service tech said it looked all original. The problem was it tripped the breaker. He determined the compressor crankcase heater had blown and was grounding out. He said it is not really needed where we are, and removed the circuit to it. He measured the freon (I think it is freon) and said it was up to pressure and did not appear the unit had ever been opened up before. We will see how long it runs!
The evaporative coolers will work in low humidity areas. Here on the East Coast, where the humidity in the summer is frequently (usually) in the upper 80 to 95% level, they're not as efficient. No dry air for the intake means higher temps on the output with high humidity to go with it.
@Holbs Consider yourself lucky with the encounter with the Rotty. My son just got bit on the arm by a Pit Bull and it will take about a year to find out if the nerves in his arm recover from the compression of the bite. A Rotty bites way harder than a Pit and a Pit is no slouch in that department, say 300psi and up with a Rotty at 400 and up.
Having grown up in the Panhandle of Texas (Lubbock), I do not have very fond memories of the Evaporative cooler we had. Ours was on top of our house. We use to have to hose it down with a water hose, but I was young, so I don't remember all of it. I do remember however, how happy I was once we got central AC!
