|
Users viewing this topic:
none
|
|
Login  | |
|
RE: Air conditioner in apartment - 7/31/2008 8:44:41 AM
|
|
|
manhattan42
Posts: 65
Joined: 4/13/2005
Status: offline
|
Air Conditioners are rated in BTUs.
The higher the BTUs the greater the cooling power.
Small units of 5000 to 7000BTUs can only adequately cool small rooms.
Larger units of 14,000 BTUs or more will be needed to cool large rooms or large open areas.
Chances are this unit is simply too small for the space it is trying to cool.
It would also help to use a ceiling or box fan to move the cooled air around the room.
If the building owner will not install an adequately large enough AC unit, you can purchase a portable AC like those shown below:
http://www.air-n-water.com/portable-air-conditioners.htm
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Air conditioner in apartment - 7/31/2008 10:28:47 AM
|
|
|
pumpkin
Posts: 1351
Joined: 4/1/2005
From: home
Status: offline
|
Brandy,
I'm sorry you are having to deal with this. I can fully appreciate where you are coming from. We also live in an apartment, and in a sense, you can ask for someone to come (who is not on their maintenance team) but they (apt. management) can tell you that it's not necessary. Plus, you may not be able to even have them come in with you paying... since it is not your property.
Our air conditioning in our bedroom went out about 2 years ago, during the time period when it was about 95+ every day.... not the hottest it gets here, but certainly hotter than we can sleep through. They told us to "turn the air on in the other room, place a fan in the hallway, and blow the cooler air toward the bedroom" which was a joke! They were totally serious, but David tried it for a night, and it did nothing! (as we suspected). It was not a "high priority" for them, as we had other areas that were capable of being cooled, and so it was on their long list of things to look at/fix, not an immediate need.
Use fans when you can. Do you have ceiling fans? We keep those on in each room during the summer. It really does help some. Plus we have a couple box fans, and a couple stand fans and when we feel just overly hot, we point them directly at ourselves.
I should say, when our bedroom air conditioner didn't seem to be working at all they did several things. They found the freon or whatever it is was low, so they recharged it. They also replaced a part inside as it still wasn't working how they wanted it to.
If you stand directly under the airconditioner vent, does the air blowing out feel cool? Our maintenance guys have a thing that looks like a radar gun that takes the temp. of the air coming out of the vent, so they can tell if it's truly cooling at all or not.
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Air conditioner in apartment - 7/31/2008 3:36:15 PM
|
|
|
pumpkin
Posts: 1351
Joined: 4/1/2005
From: home
Status: offline
|
yeah, IF it's actually blowing cool air out, then it's probably just not up to the task... (too small for the space) and in that instance, I would ask the apt. complex management what they can do about it.
Just out of curiosity, what are the temps like outside, and what are they cooling to inside?
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Air conditioner in apartment - 8/1/2008 1:16:58 AM
|
|
|
peace77
Posts: 1004
Joined: 4/18/2005
Status: offline
|
Have the filters been checked? They may need to be replaced or washed.
It helps to make the space to be cooled smaller. In other words, close closet doors, cabinets and cupboards.
Close the doors to any rooms that aren't being used.
Keep the drapes or blinds closed on the side of the house where the sun is (East in the morning and West in the afternoon).
Replace light bulbs with compact florescent ones as they give off less heat.
Turn off unused appliances such as computer monitors, laptops, TV's etc that generate heat.
Ask the apt. management if your AC could be replaced with a different model with a higher BTU rating.
Peace,
Anne
_____________________________
I GoodSearch for Deaf Missions.
Raise money for your favorite charity or school just by searching the Internet or shopping online with GoodSearch - www.goodsearch.com
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Air conditioner in apartment - 8/1/2008 8:40:44 AM
|
|
|
pumpkin
Posts: 1351
Joined: 4/1/2005
From: home
Status: offline
|
in my opinion, if you have air conditioning, and it is actually hotter inside than out, with the thing running... and they knew about the problem, then you *should* be able to break the lease without much problem. They brought you there under false pretenses.
However, if you want to stay, here are a few things we have done...
Black out curtains on the windows, they keep the sunlight out, and therefore keep the temps down a little bit. (they were a bit expensive though... like $25 per 2 panels... and that was without a pretty curtain on the outside of it, so it's basically just a plain white sheet of whatever that stuff is.
we also went to Lowe's and bought sheets of 'insulation' that are about 8 ft tall and about 4 ft wide. We mostly have those in our bedroom, because that is the hottest room, since it is on the end of the building, and therefore is more exposed to the heat/cold outside.
In your case, if you feel that you need to stay for a while, and can't move immediately (most people can't) I would seriously look into finding room air conditioners. We have 3 air conditioners in our apartment, and they cool different areas. Is it possible for you to close off rooms that you don't use as much, and have them just be hotter so that you can have cooler temps in parts that you are in more? Since we have the 3 air conditioning/heating units, we just close the door to the area that we are in, and run the air in there... leaving the others to do their own thing. Even still.. without the air on, it never gets over 85 anywhere in here.
I hope you can do something. First thing *I* would be doing is sitting in the apartment manager's office... and I would keep doing so, since they most likely HAVE air that is cool.
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Air conditioner in apartment - 8/1/2008 9:44:31 AM
|
|
|
iluvatar
Posts: 1347
Joined: 4/12/2005
Status: online
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: pumpkin
I hope you can do something. First thing *I* would be doing is sitting in the apartment manager's office... and I would keep doing so, since they most likely HAVE air that is cool.
I agree. I think you're right to get your lawyer friend's input on this.
Aside from that, we got one of those $100 in-window AC units at Home Depot and it's remarkably good at what it does. We live in a duplex and with the thing in the upstairs bedroom window, that bedroom will get downright frigid and if we leave the doors open, it can actually make a noticeable difference downstairs. It's not enough to get the downstairs cool, but it's enough to take the edge off.
-Dan.
_____________________________
It's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care.
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Air conditioner in apartment - 8/1/2008 12:18:37 PM
|
|
|
Mrs.X
Posts: 2202
Joined: 7/7/2005
From: Newberg, OR
Status: online
|
We have a small BTU unit in our window. It doesn't keep the whole living room/dining/kitchen cool UNLESS I put a standing up ocelating fan right in front of it. Like make the ocelating fan stand up tall, so the fan itself is right in front of the cold air and have blow around the room. Then we have other fans going around int he house. It's not perfect, but it's better than not having it there for sure.
Did you say you have a second unit in your bedroom? Use another fan to blow the cold air out of that room too.
_____________________________
-Christina
MySpace
From Sweet Grass to the Packin' House (music player is at the bottom if you want to turn it off)
|
|
|
|
|
RE: Air conditioner in apartment - 8/2/2008 8:32:14 AM
|
|
|
lexie
Posts: 2954
Joined: 6/27/2005
From: Toronto
Status: online
|
Our living room/dining room gets direct sun ALL day long. We have a room air conditioner that does pretty well. But one of the biggest assets for us has been our blinds. They are shut all day long and that helps cool things down. They're not black out blinds but they're fairly thick and you'd be amazed what a difference they make.
_____________________________
Are you ready should our Saviour call today?
|
|
|
|
 New Messages |
 No New Messages |
 Hot Topic w/ New Messages |
 Hot Topic w/o New Messages |
 Locked w/ New Messages |
 Locked w/o New Messages |
|
 Post New Thread
Reply to Message
Post New Poll
Submit Vote
Delete My Own Post
Delete My Own Thread
Rate Posts |
|
|
Forum Tools
Printable Version
