Home A/C repair question

[Blue]

Fortunately, us being the vagabond military family that we are, we rent.

After a day with the fan blowing 90 degree air, I think the coil should be clean. I'm going to wait until just before bed and then set that bitch to 71.

What has the homeowner done to rectify the situation? We have a condo we rent that has 2 units for upstairs and down and when the upstairs unit died out last year we installed portable units in the bedrooms that same day and then put the family in a hotel for the weekend while the repairs were being completed. I'd hope that your owner is helping you out, especially with your very pregnant wife!

 

[Some Dude]

Wow. You're a fantastic landlord, Bill. I guess people might actually die without AC in Arizona though. I've got a rental as well, and I'm pretty sure I'd just tell the tenants to close the blinds and turn on a fan for a while. It was only 68 degrees yesterday though.

 

[chris snell]

I don't think we'll get any such treatment. It's a very nice house and generally problem-free but it's owned by a cheapfuck german couple that live overseas. It's managed by a local property agency and they are tightwads, too. They are timely about repairs but the repairs are invariably done in true cheapfuck fashion: whatever is minimally possible to bandaid the situation.

The A/C did not work when I turned it on last night so I just left the fan running. Praise be to Allah, a cool front came through this morning and everything is bearable now. A/C tech is coming at 5PM.

 

[az_max]

Wow. You're a fantastic landlord, Bill. I guess people might actually die without AC in Arizona though. I've got a rental as well, and I'm pretty sure I'd just tell the tenants to close the blinds and turn on a fan for a while. It was only 68 degrees yesterday though.

There are some laws about providing heat/cooling, hot water, and electricity. I don't think they're unique to Az:
http://www.azleg.state.az.us/ars/33/01324.htm

Supply running water and reasonable amounts of hot water at all times, reasonable heat and reasonable air-conditioning or cooling where such units are installed and offered, when required by seasonal weather conditions, except where the building that includes the dwelling unit is not required by law to be equipped for that purpose or the dwelling unit is so constructed that heat, air-conditioning, cooling or hot water is generated by an installation within the exclusive control of the tenant and supplied by a direct public utility connection.

 

[Blue]

Rental law dictates that you do have a reasonable timeframe to respond to a notice from your tenant (such as "hey, my AC isn't working") and I think the timeframe is at least a few days if not a week. But it's always best to go above & beyond to keep the tenants happy. In our case, the tenant (the husband) turned out to be a real prick anyway but that's just one of the joys of being a landlord.

 

[chris snell]

In our case, the rental agency responded reasonably quickly, in about six business hours or so. Our problem is the city-wide heat wave. Everybody's A/C's are broken and the repair companies are slammed. The soonest they can get out here is tomorrow morning.

One oddity about our house is that, for some mysterious reason, it starts warming up as soon as the outside temperature drops.

It's mysterious house-physics.

 

[stu454]

Chris, the same thing happens at our house.

Is there some sort of thermal physics eggheadery that can figure out why that happens?

 

[paxton]

You get home or are more active inside (body heat), have the TVs and the stove on, and the computers are browsing DWeb...

 

[chris snell]

I don't think that's what's happening here. We have a 5br/4ba house and it's just the two of us and I work from home all day. It behaves the same regardless of the season or the occupancy. In the winter, it gets very chilly inside during the early afternoon but warms up nicely once the sun goes down.

I suspect that it has something to do with the heat slowly working it's way through the insulation and drywall, but that's just a guess.

 

[paxton]

Thermal lag?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_lag

Bigger scale:
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_is_the_longest_day_of_the_year_not_the_hottest_day

 

[Blue]

It's all relative, man....

 

[chris snell]

Thermal lag?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_lag

There you have it. Thick walls and high R-value insulation. Thanks; I'd never heard of that.

 

[I HATE PONIES]

Is it fixed?

 

[dtl]

We have had issues with ours from when we bought the house a couple of years ago. We have had three guys out to service the A/C and the only one who knew what he was doing found the problem. He charges up the unit with freon and found that the nipple was leaking. He put a 30 cent cap on the thing and now the A/C works just fine. A couple hundred dollars for a 30 cent fix......awesome!

 

[Levi]

The schrader valves are the first place I would look for a leak when I did (sometime still do) repairs. Somethimes they just needed tightened up a little.

My grandpa has had a few service calls lately where someone has stuck pebbles or twigs into the valves, apparently to huff the freon. Brilliant!