Never Want This to Happen in Summer
By Jeff Moffitt
@moffittjc (129013)
Gainesville, Florida
May 23, 2026 8:40pm CST
If there is one thing you never want to happen in the summer (or approaching the summer months), is to have your air conditioning system in your house go down.
But that's exactly what I thought happened to mine yesterday. When my daughter got home from work, she asked me what that noise was coming from the closet where the A/C handler is. I told her I didn't hear anything, but when I opened the closet door I could hear what she heard...dripping water. And worse, my coils were starting to freeze over. Ugh, not good at all.
I started with the easiest diagnosis, in that the drain pan was overflowing because the drain line was clogged. Grabbed the wet/dry vac and headed outside and hooked it up to the drain line. Sure enough, globs of moldy water came pouring out after a few minutes of suction. I ended up sucking out lots and lots of water, then went back in and checked the drain pan. All the water gone. I put a chem tab in (helps keep mold and mildew from building up in the drain line), left the A/C off for an hour to let the coils thaw, then turned it back on and hoped for the best.
Thankfully, all is well and the A/C is running again, nice and cool, and the pan is draining as it should. Crisis averted. And I didn't have to call an HVAC technician and spend oodles of money to fix the A/C.
It never fails that something breaks just when you need it most!
What is something that failed you just when you needed it most?
22 people like this
20 responses
@FourWalls (87525)
• United States
24 May
Doesn’t everything fail when you need it most? True story: the thing that conked out on me in Florida when I needed it was the heater in the room I was renting. It got down to 10F that night. BAD night for the heater to quit.
6 people like this
@moffittjc (129013)
• Gainesville, Florida
24 May
What are the odds that you would even need a heater in Florida? LOL
Sorry to hear it crapped out on you. Were you able to get a space heater to use, or did you have to suffer through a cold night?
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (87525)
• United States
24 May
@moffittjc — suffered, I was transferring to a new duty station that week anyway.
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (87525)
• United States
26 May
@moffittjc — the “Great Lakes Windbreaker,” better known as my Navy-issued winter coat.
1 person likes this
@Deepizzaguy (123053)
• Lake Charles, Louisiana
24 May
The fan inside of my bedroom went out for a few minutes this morning due to a heavy thunderstorm in the area.
5 people like this
@moffittjc (129013)
• Gainesville, Florida
24 May
It's very rare that I used my ceiling fan in my room, but my daughter can't sleep without hers running. A couple of months ago her fan stopped working, and I had to dig out a box fan from storage for her to use just so she had the noise/air flow from a fan to help her sleep.
2 people like this
@moffittjc (129013)
• Gainesville, Florida
24 May
Trust me, everyone in my house was REALLY glad I was able to fix it as well!
2 people like this
@rakski (157925)
• Philippines
24 May
@moffittjc we have to buy a new unit, it's a window type AC
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (129013)
• Gainesville, Florida
26 May
@rakski At least the window units are more affordable than a central A/C system like I have in my house.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (129013)
• Gainesville, Florida
24 May
How long did it take to get it fixed? About 5 years ago my A/C broke in the middle of summer, and it took them 3 days to fix it (they had to order a part). I thought I was going to die.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (60200)
•
24 May
Mine went down a few summers ago during the worst of the pandemic--and it was a heat wave of about 100 degrees! It was terrible. and of course the part had to be ordered, and we had to wait. The part arrived on July 3rd about 8 PM. The fellow who owns the company called me, and said he could be at my house super early on July 4th to put it in--we decided on 7 AM and he was here! He tried so hard to get the part and had to resort to waiting on it...it was a nightmare. I am glad you got yours cleaned out and going, Jeff.
3 people like this
@moffittjc (129013)
• Gainesville, Florida
24 May
I went through a similar situation about 5 years ago, but it was in AUGUST. They had to order a part, and it took 3 days to arrive. Needless to say, I couldn't tolerate sleeping in such hot and humid conditions in my house, so I went to a hotel for a couple of nights.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (60200)
•
25 May
@moffittjc
I was so miserable. I had fans but it was just so, so hot. But as we know, furnaces only break down in the winter, and AC only breaks down when it's hot as blazes...it's just the way it is, and when it happens, it's not fun.
I often think of my grandparents that we lived with when we were young. They ran a little cafe in a very tiny town, and it was the only place to buy a meal for miles around. They did have two fans in the front area for the customers. But in the kitchen...OH. It was so hot. I remember helping in there and we would just be drenched...and miserable.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (129013)
• Gainesville, Florida
26 May
@MarieCoyle I remember spending a lot of time at my grandmother’s house as a child, and she didn’t even have air conditioning. But her house was on the beach, and the house had tons of windows. I never remember being hot in her house, because there was always a cool sea breeze. But I do always remember being sticky from so much salt in the air, if that makes sense.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (504095)
• Italy
25 May
@moffittjc - Well done. I remember it happened with our freezer, it was the small pipe that evacuated the water that was clogged.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (129013)
• Gainesville, Florida
24 May
Thankfully, it was just a clogged drain line. The system is working good now. I really dodged a bullet on that one!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (129013)
• Gainesville, Florida
26 May
@LadyDuck it’s always smart to look for the easiest, most obvious answer first, before spending lots of money to call someone out to diagnose and fix.
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (98863)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
24 May
Best of luck to you with the AC. RIght now I am happy enough with my fan blowing on me,
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (98863)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
28 May
@moffittjc Nope, just an occasional river breeze. The Halifax River is only a block away but thge Daytona Beach is four blocks and has a big old Hilton in front of it,
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (129013)
• Gainesville, Florida
27 May
Do you get a nice ocean breeze where you live?
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (129013)
• Gainesville, Florida
2 Jun
@RasmaSandra Even a breeze from the river is better than what I get here in Gainesville…which is nothing!
1 person likes this
@BACONSTRIPSXXX (18388)
• Torrington, Connecticut
2 Jun
Glad everything worked out with your A/C — that definitely sounds stressful, especially with summer coming. It’s great that you were able to fix it yourself and avoid a costly repair. Things really do seem to break at the worst times!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (129013)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Jun
It’s always my worst fear that my A/C will break down on me at the worst possible time, on the hottest, most humid day of the summer. And I’m not gonna lie, I would book a hotel room for a night or two if that ever happened, just so I would t have to sleep in a hot house while waiting for the unit to be repaired!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (129013)
• Gainesville, Florida
6 Jun
@BACONSTRIPSXXX It's like they say, plan for the worst, but hope for the best! Or, like the Boy Scout motto says, Be Prepared!
1 person likes this
@BACONSTRIPSXXX (18388)
• Torrington, Connecticut
4 Jun
@moffittjc I hear that, crap always happens to me at the worst moment so I'm always anticipating the worst lol
1 person likes this
@JESSY3236 (22383)
• United States
26 May
My AC unit failed about two years ago. My uncle didn't really take care of it like he should. It was summer back then. I had to buy a new unit. It was alot of money, but it has been worth it. I was supposed to have it looked at it last week, but Brothers canceled my appointment so I rescheduled for next month.
My water heater and well pump both failed about two years ago too. I had to get those replaced.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (129013)
• Gainesville, Florida
26 May
Nothing is worse when high-priced mechanical items fail and have to be replaced. My water heater went out last year, but thankfully it was just the heating element, which thankfully was easy to rpelace.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (129013)
• Gainesville, Florida
27 May
@JESSY3236 you didn’t try sticking some chewing gum in the hole first? That always solves leaking problems! Lol
1 person likes this
@JESSY3236 (22383)
• United States
26 May
@moffittjc Mine had a hole in it so I had to get whole water heater replaced. There was a hole in the well pump too.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (129013)
• Gainesville, Florida
24 May
The amount of money that is charged for service technicians to come out and fix things is outrageous. They know that most of the time it's an emergency, and they know we'll pay whatever is necessary to get it fixed quickly. It's pure greed on their part. Thankfully, I was able to fix the problem without having to pay someone else to do it.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (129013)
• Gainesville, Florida
26 May
@JudyEv This is one case where social media can actually do some good! Haha
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (384261)
• Rockingham, Australia
25 May
@moffittjc Some of the single women in the village get caught occasionally but now they might put a note on the FB site and there is usually someone who can help them.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (129013)
• Gainesville, Florida
26 May
@thelme55 Yes, from what I’ve been told, the weather in Florida is very similar to the weather in the Philippines
1 person likes this
@thelme55 (79667)
• Germany
25 May
@moffittjc I see. I didn’t know that Florida could be so hot and humid. It sounds like the hot and humid weather in the Philippines.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (129013)
• Gainesville, Florida
24 May
Thanks. I'm not generally good with things like that, but in this case I knew what was wrong and what needed to be done to fix it.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (129013)
• Gainesville, Florida
26 May
@nela13 Yes, thankfully. I’m getting ready to spend a lot of money for a trip out to Los Angeles next year,
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (129013)
• Gainesville, Florida
24 May
I don't know how people ever lived in Florida before A/C was invented. It must have been brutal. Not just the heat and humidity, but the bugs as well. lol
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (129013)
• Gainesville, Florida
26 May
@porwest Even the clothes they wore, and the fashion styles, were not conducive to summer comfort in the South!
1 person likes this
@porwest (113469)
• United States
25 May
@moffittjc I remember the old movies depicting people in the old South. They were always sweating. lol.
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (210343)
• United States
24 May
Probably cars. I live in fear of my AC failing.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (129013)
• Gainesville, Florida
24 May
I always worry about my vehicle breaking down on me when I need to go to work each morning. I shouldn't worry too much, because there's always Uber or Lyft, but still, it's something you hope never happens.
@moffittjc (129013)
• Gainesville, Florida
26 May
I worry about my air conditioner every year at the start of summer.
1 person likes this
@just4him (323223)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
1 Jun
I'm glad you averted a financial crisis with the A/C.
My furnace went out last September. I didn't notice it until I went to turn it on and nothing happened. It took a couple of weeks to get maintenance to fix it, but thankfully it was fixed before winter set in.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (129013)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Jun
You dodged a bullet yourself with your furnace. Thankfully it happened before the worst of winter hit you.
@LindaOHio (223648)
• United States
25 May
I'm glad you knew what to do. It always seems to be the heat or AC that goes when you need it the most.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (129013)
• Gainesville, Florida
27 May
Thankfully it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, and also that it happened before the worst of summer hit.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (129013)
• Gainesville, Florida
27 May
That happened to me quite a lot too, especially when I’m in a hurry.
1 person likes this
