Calling for Service

If the central air conditioner in your unit blows warm air and it is over 65 degrees outside, please check with your neighbors to see if they are only getting warm air as well. If so, the rooftop chiller serving your building is likely offline. If you are signed up to receive community email notifications from the Association, check your email to see if the Association is already aware of the problem. If not, contact the managing agent promptly to report the problem so service technicians can be dispatched immediately.

If your neighbors are receiving cold air, then the chiller is working and the Association cannot help you, as the problem is with your own equipment.

To fix problems with your air conditioning other than warm air, to fix problems with your heating, or to have routine maintenance performed on the heating and air conditioning equipment inside your unit, please contact your preferred service technician directly, as the Association is not responsible for these tasks.

General Information

Air Conditioning

Association Responsibility

The Association is responsible for the operation, maintenance, and repair of the chillers on top of each building, and the common pipes that bring chilled water into each unit. The chillers run only when the ambient temperature outside is 65 degrees or higher. When the chiller is activated, water is delivered to each unit in the range of 40 to 50 degrees.

Unit Owner Responsibility

You, the unit owner, own and are responsible for the operation, maintenance, and repair of your fan coil, which is a machine mounted in the ceiling of each condominium. The fan coil takes chilled water from the shared pipes, passes it through a set of coils, and blows air through the coils, producing cold air that is expelled out of the ducts in each room. Your thermostat activates your fan coil when the temperature inside your unit rises above your preferred setting.

Only water is sent through the pipes and passed through the coils in your fan coil. There are no chemical refrigerants in your fan coil system; all refrigerant is in the chiller on the roof.

The branch pipes and valve systems attached to your fan coil are also your property and your responsibility to maintain and repair. The thermostat and related components are yours as well. Your fan coil system should also include condensation removal components, comprised of a pan to catch condensate, piping to send it to your drain pipes, and possibly a small pump to assist in draining, which are all your responsibility to maintain and repair.

As your fan coil system ages, the coils may leak, your condensate pan may leak, and your branch pipes or drain pipes may leak or become clogged. In addition, the fan itself may become worn, reducing its power. Repair and replacement of these are the responsibility of the unit owner, not the Association.

Our maintenance providers have observed that in some units that still have the original fan coils that were installed in 1967 or 1968, when the temperature outside is over 100 degrees, the fans are too weak to push enough air through the units to make all the rooms comfortable. Please understand in this situation, so long as water below 50 degrees is being provided to your unit, this means everything the Association is responsible for is working properly, so calling the Association for repair assistance will not resolve your problem. You would need to call a qualified air conditioning repair man to determine whether the fan can be upgraded, which may require replacing the entire fan coil system.

Service Temperature

As mentioned, the water is cooled only when the outside temperature is above 65 degrees. Residents on occasion ask for the system to be set to run when the outside temperature is below 65 degrees. However, the threshold will remain at 65, for two reasons. First, these chillers are not designed to run when the outside temperature is cool already. Running it in cool weather will increase the strain on the system and increase costs and/or decrease reliability. Second, the cost to the association for electricity to run these is already a significant portion of our budget. When the chiller is running, the cost to the Association is the same no matter how many people are using it. If we lower the temperature threshold, the chiller will run earlier in the morning and later into the evening on warm days, and all day when it otherwise wouldn't any day the temperature hovers just below 65. This greatly increased cost would not make economic sense for the few people that might want to run the air conditioner when it's under 65 degrees outside.

Heating

Equipment for warming your unit is contained entirely in your unit. Maintenance, repair, and replacement of this is entirely the responsibility of the unit owner.

Vents and Ducts

In relation to air conditioning and heating, only the water pipe system, carrying chilled water, is shared and runs between units. The vents and ducts in your unit are not connected to the vents and ducts in other units. Maintenance of vents and ducts is the responsibility of the unit owner.

Maintenance, Repair, and Replacement of Fan Coil

When performing maintenance, repair, or replacement of your fan coil, branch pipes, or peripheral equipment, ensure compliance with the following procedures in addition to all other applicable requirements in the Rules & Regulations:

1. Provide a minimum of 48 hours' notice to the Association.
2. Acquire a permit from LADBS if you will be replacing your fan coil, and plan for your or your contractor's work to be inspected for building code compliance.
3. Do not under any circumstances drain the water from the chiller system, as this will cause the chiller to shut down and disrupt air conditioning service to the entire building.
4. Before starting work, completely stop the flow of water into the fan coil, but allow water to continue to flow through the common (main) pipe. To do this:
   1. Close any valves present for this purpose.
   2. If you have no such valves,​​ use a certified pipe freeze company to freeze the branch pipe upstream from its connection to the fan coil. During repair/replacement of your fan coil, it is highly recommended that you have ball valves installed on the branch pipe supply and return lines. This way the valves can be utilized to stop water flow into your fan coil for future repairs and maintenance, without the need for ​a pipe freeze company.

Failure to follow the above procedures correctly may lead to interruption of air conditioning service to other residents and flood damage or damage to the rooftop chiller itself. The Association will hold the unit owner fully responsible for all costs related to such problems, including service calls required to diagnose faults.

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