Fortunately, my wife's entire family is in the OC, and I have almost three decades of SoCal based friendships, so we get out there a couple of times per year to "recharge our internal solar batteries".

The refrigerant leak can be the biggest challenge - they must examine the tubing visually for signs of damage, leak-check the joints, coils and tubing using an electronic leak detector, and once they find the leak, the system must be depressurized (pumped into a refrigerant container), the leak repaired, then the system must be evacuated to make sure it holds a vacuum (verify no more leaks), then dessicated and recharged.

This helps us to recharge enough to last until summer.

I think you'd find yourselves stressing about money if you tried to get by on just that for the four of you.Joel's advice about taking time off to recharge and clear your mind is right on.

Seeing someone who is new really gives those who have been in the business for a little while some recharging of our batteries.

We found it an excellent spot to unwind, relax and recharge!