We Know Its Been Warm – Our Team Is Not Quit Ready To Switchover To AC

Spring is arriving and our team is almost finished with seasonal preparations to ready our cooling system for use.

We will continue providing heating as weather conditions may dictate, through June 1st as mandated by the City Of Chicago Heating Ordinance. However, our team has been preparing for the cooling season, and once everything is ready to go they will begin switching to AC when outdoor temps are around 60 or higher. So far this season, the biggest obstacle until now has been overnight cold temperatures. We can’t fill our cooling tower, until we have a very low chance for freezing temperatures. Fortunately, recent moderating weather made work possible and so we are almost there.

Once cooling is available, our team will balance any day to day change over as best we can until the heating system goes offline for the season, around that June 1st date. In general, our team is aiming to maintain hallway temperatures in the low 70s which tends to support unit temperatures in the low 70s as well. Many variables influence this process.

Keep in mind at times, the sunny side of the building may be quite warm, while folks in the shadow side are quite cold. Given the time of year and the City requirements, heating must remain our priority until June. Typically we need to default to heating service and only switch to cooling if conditions are expected to result in discomfort. At times in the Spring, this can be very difficult to navigate, particularly when we have relatively cool outdoor temps but full sunlight during the day.

Please understand, boing back and forth between Heating and AC is not just a flip of a switch. The temperature of the water in the pipes has to properly modify before we can switch from either heating to cooling or cooling to heating. To explain, we can’t put cold water into the boiler system and we can’t put hot water in the chillers. The transition process can take 6 to 8 hours. Otherwise, we risk damaging pipes and mechanicals.

Typically we expect the need for heating with outdoor temps in the mid to low 50s or colder. For cooling we aim for AC availability when the sun is out and temps are around 60 degrees or higher. When the weather changes quickly, switchovers can be challenging. When it’s 40 degrees in the morning, and climbs into the 70s in the early afternoon, the transition will be slow, if it happens at all. Our staff has to consider whether heating will be needed again that night, and the time it takes to switch back over to heat. We realize full sun during the day heats some units very quickly, but there will be times we may not switchover because of the timing.

There are other variables. We have sensors throughout the interior and exterior of the building, which help us analyze conditions. Also, feedback from residents can help trigger manual adjustments which may improve comfort. It will not be 100% comfortable for 100% of our residents, 100% of the time this time of year, but resident comments and observations can help us make adjustments and improve conditions as much as possible. Contact us at parktowercondo-mgmt@habitat.com, or call the office 773-769-3250.