Gas and Oil Home Heating Furnaces - help with apt complex ac people

howdy folks.

i live in an apartment in college station, tx. i went to go use my a/c for the first time since i moved in and guess what. it doesn't work. i'm highly aggitated with the apartment maintence people. for 2 days the have told me that there's nothing wrong. i need to close up all the windows and close all the blinds in order to keep the cool air in (well duh! dummys thought i was just born yesterday or something). in this building, we each have our own a/c (not sure of the model). the guy said he checked the freon and that the levels were ok. the a/c fan turns on, but no cool air. the a/c fan stays on constant and doesn't blow any air out, except where the filter is.

we closed the place up this morning and the temp was about 90 in the apartment, with the fan blowing all day on the a/c it was still 20 in the apartment.

i need some help in getting these guys to realize that theres a problem. (they obviously at this point, don't care).

oh, i know the filter was just replaced when i just moved in. so i know its not that.

any suggestions on what i can do?

thanks!

You pay your rent to the complex management not the maintenance department.
If you get on the management's case they in turn will get something done.
Call twice the first day and if no response call twice every hour.
They should get sick of your calling and you will soon get looked after.

You should also check your lease agreement about repairs and then check with the State Attorney General's Office about renter's rights. Many states require repairs to be effected within a certain time period or have provisions for putting the rental party on 'slumlord' list. If it is not fixed, then the renter may pay to have the repair done by a licensed contractor and deduct the amount from the rent.

You might also ask member "slumlordfrank" for advice. I believe he has or has had rental properties in Houston.

Trinah wrote:
"the a/c fan turns on, but no cool air. the a/c fan stays on constant and doesn't blow any air out, except where the filter is."

If I am reading what you wrote correctly, air is coming _out_ of the _filter_???

If this is accurate then there is something very odd going on.

A lot of diagnosis is asking the right question, so here's a few:

When you set your thermostat, are the switches in the "cool" and "Auto" positions?.

If so, when the system is running, if you put a hand on the larger of the two copper lines going into the air handler, is that one cold to the touch, and the small one warm?

If yes, are the dampers in the air registers through the apartment open?

Finally, if you have an accurate thermometer, is there at least a 15 degree difference between the air coming into the unit, and air coming out of the closest register?

PS: not tryiing to flame you, but most maint. guys actually do care, but you must realize that they tend to get swamped with calls when the weather changes from heat to cold and vice versa, especially around rent time (everyone brings in service requests with their rent).

They may, however lack real training to interpret the information their guages give them.

I had a similar problem with my a/c in my apartment. Actually, had it most of the 4 years I lived there. Finally, after following the advice of calling twice a day and eventually contacting the actual management company (not on site manager), they discovered that the unit on the roof (very old building) was defective AND that the coils were so clogged that little or no air could pass through.

I agree with you are paying the management company, not the maintenance guys. I became very good friends with the maintenance crew over this time and discovered that they are 'limited' at times to how much they can do and be cost effective for the apartments. They also seemed to have a repair order stacks about a mile high during the weather changes and only 8 hours in a day to do the work.

Good luck, and let us know what happens.

Kay :)