DIYbanter - View Single Post - A/C working properly? Cost

mm

On Sat, 07 Jul 2007 09:27:18 -0700, wrote:

On Jul 6, 7:24 pm, wrote:
It's 90 deg. outside, humidity is 37%. The A/C is set to 80 deg. The
temp in the apartment is at 83 deg, and hasn't gone below that. The A/
C has been running non-stop for hours. The temp out of the vents is
colder than the air in the apartment, but not a lot colder. (I don't
have a thermometer.)

Maintenance fixed the A/C only a month ago when it completely quit
working. Our electric bill that month was $320 for a 800 sq ft
apartment.

Maintenance is coming tomorrow. How do I make sure they fix the unit
right, or make the landlord replace it if it won't work properly? The
electric bill is outragous.

Maintenance came today. He hooked an electric probe in two places, and
in two minutes he said "it's fine."

I surely wouldn't consider that an adequate test. An adequate test
looks at the results, that is, is the air cold. Unless that is
physcially impossible, like maybe measuring something on a satellite
when one is on the ground, but that is not the case here.

Still, I wonder if there are two places that are specially important.
But I'm not an AC guy.

He hadn't checked the output
temperature. I asked him to do that. (The A/C was off before he came,
as it wasn't working right, so it's only been running for a couple
minutes.) He went back to his van and got a thermometer (laser,
interesting). The output temperature was 70 deg, and the house was 82
deg. I said it should be 20 deg.

Although someone said 20 yesterday, I don't think it is always 20 -- I
think what I've heard here, AHR, is 15 to 20.

"Why do you think it should be 20 deg
different?" he says. I told him that's what I found on the internet.
He checked more wires with his probe for another 5 minutes, then
checked the temperature again. It now said 64 deg (18 deg different).

Now the thing is working! Darn. It's much much harder to fix most
things when they are working right. Even things that only work
intermittently. You pretty much have to catch it when it's not
working to be able to fix many things.

Do you have a thermometer other than the one that is on the
thermostat?

He said it had to run for a while to get to that temp. (Recall, he
just asked why I thought is should be 20 deg.)

He asked because curious-type repairmen are always curious when a
customer says something about a repair, right or wrong.

And of course it does have to run for a while to get to that temp. He
may have thought you had had it running.

The fact is that all repairmen get calls for things that either were
really never broken or start workimg the moment they touch it. Even
when I'm working on my own stuff, that I know is broken, it's not
unusual for it to start to work fine the moment I start to repair it.
Sometimes they never break again, sometimes they do.

I explained the
problem of it not cooling down below 83 deg in 7 hours, and never
having an electric bill like we just had in the year and a half we'd
already been here. He didn't have anything to say, and didn't check
anything else. He never looked at the outside part of the unit. I

It's plainly working outside, but I think he should have looked if it
was dirty. By now he has 18 degrees, which iiuc is pretty good.

I think during hot weather a lot of companies make service calls as
quick as possible, because so many people are calling them. If one
wants a tune-up or a cleaning, he has to call when they aren't so
busy, or pay more in the busy season**. But if the outside is dirty,
you could clean it yourself if the landlord says ok, using a garden
hose with no nozzle, iiuc. The fins are very easy to bend, and bent
fins cut down AC efficiency. This isn't your major problem, though.

**This is why I guess whether you rent or own, you should test your
furnace in September and your AC in April or May, so that if it is
broken, you have time to get it fixed when companies aren't busy. I
don't know what various landlords will say if you say your ac isn't
working in May. Landlords vary.

asked if he had a contractor HVAC license as he was leaving. He said
yes. I said I'd come down with him and write the number down.

For the next time, espeically a more important situation, you have to
have the pencil ready, because if you give someone time to think, they
want to "check with their lawyer". That's why reporters iiuc sometimes
try to surprise the people they interview.

When I
got to his van he said I'm not giving you my contractors number, the
landlord has it. I said I need to keep proper records because the
cooling bill is outragous, and the A/C is not cooling the apartment.
He wouldn't give it to me. I said well then I'll write down your plate

Did you first ask his name, or if he had a business card**? For your
records, all you really need is his name, or the company name on the
truck. He didn't add any freon, so he doesn't have to have a
license, and your legal relationship is with your landlord, not with
the AC company. This part is very important. If he fixes it and does
a bad job, but doesn't cause damage to things you own, you won't be
able to sue him. You're not paying him and you don't have a direct
relationship with him. No privity. (If does damage things you own,
the landlord might be resposnible too, in this case.)

Being a tenant can be both an advantage and a disadvantage in this
situation. It depends how things play out.

**My friend who has a burglar alarm business gives all his installers
business cards, although I'm sure many bosses in many fields don't
bother. He's hoping to get business that way. (He might be thinking
that without a business card, the installer will just give them his
own number and do the work without my friend, but if they have a card
they won't bother.)

number and write the state about it.

That's really going to endear him for the next time he has to come.
He'll be sure to clean up well, and be extra careful to not leave
fingerprints.

And for nothing because as you found later, he doesn't have to give
you his number. Except he may tell your landlord he doesn't like you.
That's not in your interest either.

I absolutely despise the president of my home owners association. She
lies, cheats, and steals votes, and she's a hypocrite or senile. But
I don't tell her any of that that or she will make my life more
difficult. When one of us moves, I'll probably tell her.

(Also, he said the previous problem las month was a broken relay.)

Unfortunately, the law doesn't require him to have a license. I just

From my pov, it's hard to say if it's unfortunate or not. Surely if I
were in your shoes, I'd be happy to be able to get his number. (Even
though I could find his number if I had his name. If the licensing
agency wouldn't look up his number based on his name, they also
wouldn't do anything if they had his number.) But if we look at the
whole picture, we live in a country where laws are becoming more and
more oppressive. I'm flabbergasted that in Virginia, they passed a
law that there can't be smoking even at private clubs. And some place
else they banned the sale at restaurants of food made with transfat.
Requiring that the ingredient be listed on the menu would have been
ok, and probably killed it, but telling people they can't serve a
legal food if people want to buy it is, I hate to say it, the bud of
fascism. That the state has the power to do anything. (Not German
fascism, which includes mass murder. More like maybe Spanish fascism.)

found the following on the net:
G.S. 87-21 (c) To Whom Article Applies. - The provisions of this
Article shall apply to all persons, firms, or corporations who engage
in, or attempt to engage in, the business of plumbing, heating, or
fire sprinkler contracting, or any combination thereof as defined in
this Article. The provisions of this Article shall not apply to those
who make minor repairs or minor replacements to an already installed
system of plumbing or heating, but shall apply to those who make
repairs, replacements, or modifications to an already installed fire
sprinkler system.

This strikes me as reasonable.

BTW, you didn't reply to any particular thing I said last night, but I
hope I convinced you that I wasn't suggesting that anything
underhanded is going on.