I hate it when I think I have a simple issue with something mechanically, only to discover it’s a much worse problem altogether.
My old Isuzu Rodeo was a great car for a teenager and college student, but it had problems all of the time.
Once I thought I just needed a new fuel pump only to discover that it was the transmission slipping instead. Even though my mechanic was able to put a used transmission in my small SUV, the cost was over $1,000 and I had no choice but to borrow the money from my parents and pay them back slowly. On another occasion I lost my air conditioner and heater in the car and had to have it replaced after hoping I just needed a coolant recharge. These are all hugely frustrating experiences to live through, but at least I had some respite recently with an issue with my home’s ventilation system. My HVAC technician measured the temperature in all of the rooms in my house and learned that there were huge discrepancies and little uniformity from one zone to another. Given my track record of bad luck, I worried that this meant I needed new ductwork to have a properly balanced temperature from room to room. I asked him what the damage report would be, but I was pleasantly surprised that I could buy ductwork dampers that simply restrict air going from one location and send it in another. With strategic planning, you can balance the air flow going into each room with damper opening and close the air pathways as needed. These devices are phenomenally helpful for ventilation system discrepancies like mine.