Allen and Becky and the "Raining Aircons"

Allen and Becky went to the U.S. for 2+ weeks. Since we're in the same building, Becky asked me if I would look in on their place and water their plants every 3-4 days. When they moved in a year ago, the owner of their condo had all of the aircons replaced. Becky said that the one in their bedroom would "rain" occasionally. She left a towel under it to catch the drips. Last week, I noticed that it was dripping some, so I turned that one off.

Thursday while waiting for the all-clear from the guards from the stupid fire in the lift I decided I'd check their place. I discovered that the main circuit-breaker had tripped and their place was very stuffy. (Another friend, Robin, had told Becky of her experience returning home from a 3-week trip to discover all of their furniture covered in mold. Robin had to hire a company that specializes in mold removal to clean their furniture.)

I flipped the circuit-breaker, and all of the aircons were "onned" --everything was hunky-dory.

Michael and I did some shopping today and bought some groceries. I said, "I'm just going to check on Allen and Becky's place and water the plants. Will you put the groceries away while I'm over there?"

I walked into their place and saw a LAKE in their dining room! I couldn't find the control to turn off the aircon. They have a beautiful wool carpet under a very heavy dining table. I frantically called Michael (who was still putting stuff away) "There's a lake in Allen and Becky's dining room from the aircon and I can't find the control to turn it off. The water is pouring from it like a faucet! Will you come over here?"

I finally came to my senses and used the remote-control for the bedroom aircon to turn off the dining room aircon. The water continued to flow even after I "offed" it.


Michael came to my rescue and we went on a quest for towels that weren't pristine white. Soon we were sopping up the water -- we looked like Lucy and Ethel in the grape-stomping episode.

Michael went back to our place and then brought our ladder and more beige-colored towels along with an extension cord. We moved the fans from their kitchen into the dining room and aimed them onto the rug. He opened up the cover of the aircon and put a towel in the trough to wick the water into the towel.

Once we were satisfied we'd done everything we could for late Saturday afternoon, Michael decided that the next most logical step was to raid their fridge for a couple of Stellas.