Man's Best Friend. Maybe.

[Tom Stenzel]

I didn't see this one coming. Since I'm disabled my daughter does the lawn care and there's corners of the yard I rarely go. Guess where the central air compressor/condenser is located?

SHMBO mentioned the air conditioning wasn't work well. That's when I remembered that I hadn't cleaned the condenser fins and then probably were plugged up. Parts were covered up but when I hit it with the hose not only did the grass and junk come off but did large sections of condenser fins. It's rotted away.

Turns out that my kind sweet lovable dog has been relieving himself on the airconditioner, the no good miserable mangy fleabag. From the places I usually wander in the yard I wouldn't have seen it. My wife mentioned about the corrosion in the air conditioner to a neighbor. They immediately said my dog's name and had a similar experience years ago.

The refrigerant charge is clearly low, the condenser looks like junk. The air conditioner is 18 years but has worked OK until now. I think I know how the story will end and that's with $$$. With the pandemic and hot weather it might be awhile before it gets going again. HVAC guys are busy now.

My question is: Has your pet cost you a ton of money in a way you didn't expect? I mean something that completely blindsided you. Our mutt has cost us money before but this... and it's going to be hot again soon.

-Tom

[mike stenson]

Our dane ate a crocheted coaster just about Christmas time. That was about 10k in emergency surgery. I wasn't expecting it. All of that started because of a hematoma in her ear.. that reappeared Friday.. another $800 in surgery (we weren't going to go the steroid route again after the 10 grand). The other dog (English mastiff) broke his paw when he was a puppy (last year). The vets know us very well now.

[Paul F Franklin]

We take our husky/golden mix to doggy day care now and then. Outside the entry door there are two A/C condensing units. By each unit is a "No Pee Zone" sign, and you can see why....the corner of each unit is badly corroded. We haven't had any major dog related expenses, knock on wood. Sorry yours picked an expensive thing to ruin!

[Rod Sheridan]

My altruistic younger daughter often looked after dogs that needed help.

Once we would up with a loveable but untrained full grown Doberman for a month.

After Parker left us for his permanent home, I went downstairs to use my band saw. The saw looked like orange juice had been poured all over it and dried.

Turned out Parker had been urinating in one of the floor boots in the living room, which ran down the ducting to a joint over the band saw.

What a mess, the ducting had to come down and get cleaned, the saw had to come apart, get cleaned and partially repainted.

I guess no good deed goes unpunished......Rod

[Lee Schierer]

Wow, that is not good news. Hopefully you can get a new one install quickly. the good news is the new one will be more energy efficient. I would suggest an in ground fence that would exclude your dog from that area. With proper training the electronic fences work quite well. My dog won't go through ours for any reason unless he is at heel with me.

[Larry Frank]

We had a cat that we found out was seeing in a sink. The trap was brass and chrome plated. Yes, it corroded and fell apart making a mess.

[Bruce Volden]

Sorry about your AC and the "puppy". I'll trade 2 horses for your dog any day!
I just refinished a 120+ yo barn last year and have multiple kicks in the bright red metal siding:mad::mad:
These are my daughters nags and I haven't much say between her and the missus. As far as I'm concerned
a horse is one of the most useless animals on a farm today--a total waste of income.

Bruce

[Charlie Velasquez]

We have spent the prerequisite thousands on surgeries, but additionally

$200 for a pair of leather boots
$15 for leather gloves
about $30 several times for library books
$70 for a pair of tennis shoes
a set of apple airpods
$30 for a neighbor’s Iowa State football (I didn’t mind that too much)
the list goes on.

Our vet described him as “an aggressive chewer”.

[jared herbert]

I just got done replacing 400 sq feet of flooring in my daughte4 and son in laws family room. She is a cat lover. When their child was born 3 years ago I guess the cat got jealous and started peeing on the carpet. They just let it go on until it was intolerable so dear old dad had to tear up the carpet and replace it all with snap together vinyl plank flooring. So far the cat hasn’t bothered the new floor. I feel like I may have done permanent damage to my 69 year old knees though.

[Stan Calow]

My dog chewed up the insoles from 5 pairs of shoes. Except it was the left insole only from each pair. So I couldn't just swap them out to salvage a pair or two, I had to buy 5 new pairs of insoles to get the left ones. I think he did it on purpose.

[Kev Williams]

As to the condenser, I'm assuming it's the cooling fins that have rotted away and it's not leaking? (-if leaking, the refrigerant would be GONE, not simply low)

In the meantime, get a water mister system:
https://www.amazon.com/Automatic-Conditioner-Cooler-Evaporative-Cooling/dp/B01GW4H5TG/ref=asc_df_B01GW4H5TG/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312157570551&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15026692882060181240&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9029741&hvtargid=pla-569121855522&psc=1
436875

(https://www.amazon.com/Automatic-Conditioner-Cooler-Evaporative-Cooling/dp/B01GW4H5TG/ref=asc_df_B01GW4H5TG/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312157570551&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15026692882060181240&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9029741&hvtargid=pla-569121855522&psc=1)This one has an electric water valve, like icemakers use, water only comes on when the compressor is running.

Not perfect, but it WILL cool the condenser enough to work much better...

[Frank Pratt]

My brother's dog did the same thing to his condensing unit.

[Adam Herman]

my dog ate the cowboy boots i wore to my wedding. they were over 500$ many other pairs of shoes, TV remotes ( now that we just use roku, we keep one in stock!) among other things.

[Thomas McCurnin]

Covers for those units might have saved the day. Mine are covered for most of the year.