PLEASE DON’T PANIC!

The AC is Expected to Remain Available For Several Weeks Yet…

However, we have already experienced weather overnight, where the AC did go off. Most residents may not have noticed this thanks to the unseasonable chill, particularly following such a hot and humid summer.

Others though noticed. So why would the AC go off in August? Why can’t we just let it keep running? Unfortunately, the water can get too cold in the lines. As the cold water circulates up into the building, there are times when it loops back and it is still relatively cold. This is caused by a combination of things – the air is already relatively cool thanks to outdoor temperatures. Also, there is much lower demand – less residents have their convectors on. So, the water keeps looping around and it becomes colder and colder and there are times when it is so cold that we have the buildings mechanicals (chillers) on the lowest settings possible, but it is still getting colder. This can damage the pipes and pumps and mechanicals. Coils could even freeze up! And allowing such damage could lead to flooding or worse – very long outages of the AC to accommodate repairs.

We know from experience, the magic outdoor temperature is around the mid-50s where we have no choice but to shut down the cooling plant. Otherwise we risk these damages. And we already reached that point several times this August.

Some residents love that cool dry air the AC provides. We get it. But if the AC is off and you see we are down in the 50s outside, please understand, the system is off to protect the building.

On another note, our maintenance team already reported that our heating plant is ready to go for the season. The City conducted their annual inspection and gave the boilers their thumbs up. So once the weather does call for heat, we expect to be ready. This is not expected to happen until we start seeing more 50 and 40 degree weather creep into the forecasts.