between what dates dose my landlord have to have the heat on. (Bangor: rent, house)

[jumac]

i dont think talking to him will help but am going to try to

[mollysmiles]

IF it doesn't help I wouldn't hesitate to call an attorney. Find one where the first consultation is free. There is also Pine Tree Legal if you qualify.
Pine Tree Legal Assistance

[starwalker]

yes, note that I did not say "thermostat"... which controls the heat but rather a simple thermometer to document the actual temperature in the rooms.

Ours usually says 60-65 except in the room we are using during the day, in which we somtimes uses supplemental heating as an economy measure.

[mollysmiles]

oh, also.....

document, document, document--temperatures, times, conversations, etc. Don't put any emotion into the documentation, just facts. If you have to backtrack, note that you backtracked--for instance, documentation begins today, but the apartment was cold on Thursday. Note it accurately... it will look better for you if you don't embellish or appear emotional. So, you'd date it for today, and say "on Thursday, March 26th, I recall that when returning from work the apartment was cold...." Go back as far as you can accurately remember.

[Maine Writer]

Pine Tree Legal.

[BrokenTap]

Do you have radiant floor heat by chance?

The only reason I ask is, in the Spring with the cold nights and warm days...it can kind of confuse the system unless its kind of high tech. It takes a few hours for the floor to respond...especially concrete floors so by the time the thermostats says it needs heat, and the floor changes enough to provide heat...its into daylight hours and warm. So of course it shuts off until its the middle of the night, cold again and yet the floor needs a few more hours to warm up.

If no radiant floor heat at the place...call Pine Tree Legal.

[Submariner]

Call the Bangor Code Enforcement Officer. He should be on top of this issue.

Also, the furnace may have died, and the landlord might not know that it died.

[Bydand]

Originally Posted by jumac

Also if anyone knows along with the heat he has the fuseboxies locked up also is this something he can do?

You HAVE to have access to the Electrical breakers that provide your living space with power. UNLESS there is someone in the management of the building constantly there. In other words if the owner or manager of the apartment complex is there to continually provide supervision, then you do NOT have to have access to the breakers/fuses that supply you living space. If there is NOT someone there all the time in that capacity then you DO have to have access to those. It has been that way for a LONG time and falls under the National Electrical Code of which Maine does follow. I was an Electrician in Maine for close to 20 years until just last June, so I have dealt with this same exact question and situation MANY times.

NEC Article 240.24(B) Occupancy.
Each occupant shall have ready access to all overcurrent devices protecting the conductors supplying that occupancy.

Exception No. 1: Where electric service and electrical maintenance are
provided by the building management and where these are under continuous building
management supervision, the service overcurrent devices and feeder overcurrent
devices supplying more than one occupancy shall be permitted to be accessible
to only authorized management personnel in the following:
(a) Multiple-occupancy buildings
(b) Guest rooms of hotels and motels that are intended for transient occupancy

[Elcarim]

I agree totally with the documentation suggestion. You can buy a regular thermomter at the dollar store and just keep a simple log. I agree it's a bit too early for the heat to be off. Maybe for a "normal" winter in Maine this is reasonable timing to cut back on the heat....maybe during the day when the sun is warming things up a bit....NOT overnight.

[jumac]

thanks for the suggestions all. i called my landlord and figured out what it was. Mosty that he has an agreement with a local fuel company to keep the tanks full but they failed to come on time to full the tank. He fixed it but was not happy to have to pay the extra to have then come out on Sunday.

Also Bydand thanks for the info on the fuse box i will talk to him bout it when i can. He dosen't live in the building but there are 4 fuse boxes in the building one each for the 2 apartments one for the store and one for the other area of the house that are not part of each apartment. He once said he didn't want poeple to have access to the other fues boxes and i wounder if he thinks cause he lives like 2 blocks over that its ok to lock them up.