I don't like water in my basement. I don't think I'm unique in that. The noise of water dripping or splashing or pouring onto the basement floor is one of the worst households sounds involving inanimate objects.

So, when I pointed out to the general contractor this morning how the HVAC monkeys, and they are monkeys, stuck a clear plastic tube carrying water straight into an overflow opening in a waste line, I was surprised that he had nothing to say about it. I told him the tube might come loose and leak onto the floor. He reached up and removed the tube, then put it back directly in and dismissed my concern.

But, yet, I went downstairs just a little while ago to hear water dumping on the basement floor and to see the tube hanging loose.

This new unit replaced an existing unit, one that magically outlived all professional predictions. The old line ran outside, through a hole in the wall. The new upstairs unit, for the upstairs "zone," runs its line outside. Why run the downstairs one differently from how it was before and how the other one is?

If you ask me, they didn't finish the job. 'Though they weren't back today. They wanted to get things "up and running" yesterday, tell their boss as much, and still duck out by 3:00, after a smoke in my backyard.

MacDonald Heating and Air Conditioning of Red Bank ... I don't recommend them.