What Would CR Do: Heat issues in apartment

[LJ]

Reasonable heat is defined as above 65 degrees in many states (The entirety of New England, among others including many city/county laws as well; Chicago, Baltimore, etc.), just not Ohio. Ohio doesn't define the term.

so just like I said. Its not "65". And those other jurisdictions where it is defined are all different temps.

 

What the Franklin County clerk recommends in this situation are exactly the steps I outlined above:

 

http://www.fcmcclerk.com/dept/clerk/pdf/RE%20-%20INFORMATION%20SHEET.pdf

 

Note that this form states a time limit for repairs to be made, not started.

 

And when the judge releases the escrow and his heat still breaks every so often, now he needs to move his family. Trust me, ive dealt with escrow many times (always had it immediately released).

 

its better to work with the landlord and find a solution before involving the courts. ALWAYS.

[AudiOn19s]

I may be wrong, but I think you guys are arguing over two different "heat pumps". You guys are talking about a heat pump/air conditioner which runs on freon with a compressor and a reversing valve.

The op is talking about hot water heat, saying it circulates from his water heater. Essentially like a boiler system. Sounds like they are having circulation problems, like air lock.

I am not familiar with his system, does it circulate a closed loop through the h2o tank, or circulate the domestic hot water through the furnace coil?

I'm guessing it's either a bad thermostat/solenoid valve combo, or air in the lines.

 

Keep us posted op, and any more info/pics of the system would be interesting.

 

This is correct...maybe I'm using the wrong term could be wrong. Circulates hot water from the water tank, through a heater core that the air passes over to heat the apartment. Basically just like a car.

 

And you're also correct there is a circulation issue of some sort but they've been purging the lines for a month now. they've replaced the heater core, the pump motor (twice) and all of the valves in the system. Every time they work on it it starts to work again for 12-24 hours and then stops circulating water again for no apparent reason. There is a purge valve in the system and no matter how much water they flow through it it never seems to have any air in the lines when the problem happens.

 

**Update** They've agreed to call in an external company to work on the problem next time it happens.

[SRTurbo04]

 

**Update** They've agreed to call in an external company to work on the problem next time it happens.

 

Good to hear, hope they figure it out. Man makes you really miss being in your own house doesn't it?

[dakotart]

Why? (i dont understand how that would help)

 

I have a heat pump and switch mine to propane around 30*. I can run in hybrid mode but that usually just kicks over to propane to quickly.

 

Below 30, I use my wood stove and put a pot of water on top. It definitely makes it feel warmer in the house when there is water than when there is no water. (the wood stove is cheaper than the propane to heat below 30)

 

Comparing the 2 setups: the heat pump has to be at 68*, but with the wood/propane it can be 64* and "feel" about the same.

[mrs.cos]

I have a heat pump and switch mine to propane around 30*. I can run in hybrid mode but that usually just kicks over to propane to quickly.

 

Below 30, I use my wood stove and put a pot of water on top. It definitely makes it feel warmer in the house when there is water than when there is no water. (the wood stove is cheaper than the propane to heat below 30)

 

Comparing the 2 setups: the heat pump has to be at 68*, but with the wood/propane it can be 64* and "feel" about the same.

 

I wish we had alternatives. We are planning to add gas lines to the house but who knows how long that will be. Our house is all electric

[Mensan]

Andy, good to hear you've got it under control.

 

LJ, if you were right, I would agree. I don't think you are.

[LJ]

Andy, good to hear you've got it under control.

 

LJ, if you were right, I would agree. I don't think you are.

 

I have 13 years experience managing properties in franklin county. I learned from my father who has 45 years exp. I'm right.

[Mensan]

I have 13 years experience managing properties in franklin county. I learned from my father who has 45 years exp. I'm right.

 

Nope.

[LJ]

Nope.

 

Lol ok bud whatever you want to think

[Mensan]

Lol ok bud whatever you want to think

 

I win.

[LJ]

I win.

 

Lol

[MattKatz]

It's a fan coil unit, not a heat pump,

 

Yes adding a humidifier helps in the winter in any system, not just a heat pump.

 

New heat pumps surely do put out near gas discharge temps these days.

 

And the reasonable heat thing....even 65 would be low in a court.

 

So much misinformation in this thread and know It alls....it's not even funny. I stop giving tech help out because I hate arguing with know I alls all the time. You want something....pay for it.

[LJ]

 

And the reasonable heat thing....even 65 would be low in a court.

from personal experience multiple times, Franklin county is typically around 60 degrees depending on the issue. The ice storm in 2004 they threw out 6 escrow requests on us at ~55 degrees because we hooked up the generators we had and would have to move them around.

[MattKatz]

Regardless, the rest of the points are valid, and most of the posts in here are comical.

[smokin5s]

 

New heat pumps surely do put out near gas discharge temps these days.

+1

My house is 3 years old, runs all electric including the heat pump... my house is 4,800 sq feet and it heats the house just fine...I do admit that sometimes it doesn't feel as warm as my old house that was gas heating, but living out in the middle of no where... electric is much cheaper than propane heating. I think this house just feels "colder" sometimes because I have high ceilings and heat rises.

 

I'm going to have to try the humidifier idea though... I'll have to look to see if they make one that can tie into the heat pump or ventilation somehow.

[mmrmnhrm]

I'm going to have to try the humidifier idea though... I'll have to look to see if they make one that can tie into the heat pump or ventilation somehow.

Humidifiers generally connect either via bypass between the return and supply air (smaller, slower, more holes to cut and ducts to connect) or straight on the supply (bigger, wetter, one cut and you're done). I'm in the process of figuring out which to add to my house right now. As much as I'd like to put one of the larger "one and done" units on, it's looking like I'm going to be stuck with a bypass type because of space limitations

[Exodus]

escrow

[mmrmnhrm]

Sigh... everybody keeps going, "Escrow! Escrow!" but in order for a court to sign off on it, the landlord has to be pretty much ignoring the problem, or making it obvious they're only making a half-assed attempt at fixing it. From Andy's description, neither is happening. In fact, they've come and replaced several pricey components, bled the thing for air, done just about everything a normal HVAC tech would do, and having still failed to fix whatever it is that's gone wrong, have now summoned a third-party firm to start taking a crack at it. In other words, they've not been absentee, nor negligent, which means the court is likely to deny the escrow request.

 

Andy, if you're in the office and Hunter or Noonan are around, poke them about what's going on. The heaters at our office work on a very similar design to what you've got at the apartment, and a number of the components are exposed in the loading dock area, so they might be able to point at this-or-that component and say "look at this widget here, and this is how it should look/operate."

[AudiOn19s]

**Update** We had no issues with the heat after they replaced the final valve in the system yesterday. Woke up to a nice 70 degree apartment this morning. On top of that they have an appointment for an outside company to come do a full inspection of everything that's been done on the system next Thursday even if there are no further issues.

 

We did come across a unique new issue last night...for some reason we no have no hot water in the faucets or shower if the heat unit is not running. They were going to address that this morning. Had to turn the heat up for it to circulate hot water in order to take a shower last night.

 

The property manager also told us that she will be covering any extra on our heating / utility bills this month caused from the system continually running and blowing cold air all over the place. AND above and beyond that we are going to work out some sort of agreement yet to be finalized to cover the inconvenience of us having soo many issues over a 30 day period.

 

In the end some civilized but pointed conversations lead me to believe this will be a happy ending without drastic actions.

[Akula]

I have a heat-pump. Works great. It isn't drawing from air though, it draws from ground temp.

[mrs.cos]

as a side note to all of this, We barely keep our thermostat set above 66 in the winter, so hearing that we are below what is considered acceptable most of hte time, i find incredibily amusing.

[LJ]

as a side note to all of this, We barely keep our thermostat set above 66 in the winter, so hearing that we are below what is considered acceptable most of hte time, i find incredibily amusing.

 

You aren't. The places that have an actual temperature limit are larger cities where the large building's HVAC is controlled centrally by the Superintendent. Its so that 90% of the tenants can't be coerced into saying "yeah I'm comfortable" while the other 10% are cold. Cities like Philly have a limit of 70.