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I've been touring a lot of newer towers around nyc, and most seem to come with a single built-in climate control (a/c and heat) unit in each room of the apartment. I'm wondering if anyone has had any experience with these types of devices?
Are they sufficient to keep apartments properly cooled and heated? I'm just concerned, mainly about a/c, because the windows in these apartments don't really make it easier to add another a/c unit if the built-in unit can't keep up.
The units WILL keep up, they are all immensely overspecified.
I had 2 (LR and BR) and for heating each was 5000 Watts, 17,000 BTU's...a LOT of heat. A/C were 15,000 BTU LR and 12,000 BTU bedroom (later switched to 15,000 against my will but the old ones all fell apart so they scrapped THOUSANDS of them)
Huge problem:
Of course this costs a fortune in electricity and they are desperately inefficient because the heat is generated inside a steel sleeve that is half exposed to outside frigid air. So your expensive electricity is wasted warming up the great outdoors.
But the biggest problem: have you neighbors on the other side of your concrete and drywall go away for a couple weeks or worse have a long term vacancy and you will pay to heat these empty apartments before your place gets comfy. THe instant the heater goes off, your place gets chilly again.
Just before I left a neighbor complained that her December electric bill was $415 (and they keep their 2 bedroom corner apartment chilly.) That was PSE&G rates so multiply by 150% and figure $600 for Con Ed.
(After a couple months of this almost everyone switched to space heaters. I used the gas stove and electric blankets,)
As air conditioners they are fine unless the bedroom is way overspecified and then you get cold and damp.
MU,
One strong bit of advice: RUN AWAY, unless you have money to burn. These things are NEVER as comfortable as central heat included in your rent and to spend every winter being cold because you are frightened of the next bill just SUCKS.
I would never live with another of these units unless my life depended on it.
I simply cannot stree how bad it is to live with these things that were installed for only a single purpose...they are cheap for a developer.
(Remember images of Dickensian flop houses? You put a shilling in a meter and you got a few hours heat? Now that's called LUXURY! )
These behemoths were called Island Aire BTW. Neighboring condo owner OWNED his and replaced 2 of them at $1500 each. (I was a renter so the landlord gave me about 5 of them as they crashed and burned.)
My apartment was truly lovely, Hudson River view, dishwasher, doormen, beautiful lobbies...but as I left the only think I gave a big Fucque Yew to were those two HVAC units.
Last edited by Kefir King; 06-19-2013 at 07:54 AM..
The units WILL keep up, they are all immensely overspecified.
I had 2 (LR and BR) and for heating each was 5000 Watts, 17,000 BTU's...a LOT of heat. A/C were 15,000 BTU LR and 12,000 BTU bedroom (later switched to 15,000 against my will but the old ones all fell apart so they scrapped THOUSANDS of them)
Huge problem:
Of course this costs a fortune in electricity and they are desperately inefficient because the heat is generated inside a steel sleeve that is half exposed to outside frigid air. So your expensive electricity is wasted warming up the great outdoors.
But the biggest problem: have you neighbors on the other side of your concrete and drywall go away for a couple weeks or worse have a long term vacancy and you will pay to heat these empty apartments before your place gets comfy. THe instant the heater goes off, your place gets chilly again.
Just before I left a neighbor complained that her December electric bill was $415 (and they keep their 2 bedroom corner apartment chilly.) That was PSE&G rates so multiply by 150% and figure $600 for Con Ed.
(After a couple months of this almost everyone switched to space heaters. I used the gas stove and electric blankets,)
As air conditioners they are fine unless the bedroom is way overspecified and then you get cold and damp.
MU,
One strong bit of advice: RUN AWAY, unless you have money to burn. These things are NEVER as comfortable as central heat included in your rent and to spend every winter being cold because you are frightened of the next bill just SUCKS.
I would never live with another of these units unless my life depended on it.
I simply cannot stree how bad it is to live with these things that were installed for only a single purpose...they are cheap for a developer.
(Remember images of Dickensian flop houses? You put a shilling in a meter and you got a few hours heat? Now that's called LUXURY! )
These behemoths were called Island Aire BTW. Neighboring condo owner OWNED his and replaced 2 of them at $1500 each. (I was a renter so the landlord gave me about 5 of them as they crashed and burned.)
My apartment was truly lovely, Hudson River view, dishwasher, doormen, beautiful lobbies...but as I left the only think I gave a big Fucque Yew to were those two HVAC units.
I had that in an high rise newer apt building in the city. KK lived in NJ. Typically you don't pay for heat in city buildings so don't worry about the heating charges KK is talking about if you are looking in the city. In summer with the AC, you paid for that use but I rarely used mine so my bill wasn't much. But to answer you question, yes the heat and AC worked great. Of course ask about heat included in rent before you tell them you want the apt.
There are old NYC installations where steam heat is pumped into these boxes and you pay only for the fan's electricity, they are fine. Even better are some wonderful systems from the 1950's 1960's that send CHILLED water into the units in Summer so your AC is basically free.
BUT a lot of the newest towers (post 1980) have electrical heaters in them and the TENANT pays for his expensive heat. They make it sound good with ads like "tenant controlled heating and air-conditioning."
So be VERY careful what you let yourself in for and the first question should be: "Who pays for the heat?"
In the newer buildings that have the heat and ac in the same unit, do they stay generally warm like the older buildings do? This whole winter we had our windows open in our apartment and ran the heat once. This was convenient because when we did try to turn the heat on, the bedroom heater was broken and the living room heater leaked water all over. It seems that due to all the hot water pipes running through the apartments that it does a good job of keeping them warm. Would this not be the case in the new buildings as I'm assuming the pipes would now be hidden behind walls?
In many of the newest buildings there are no heat pipes in the wall and they are only as warm as you are willing to pay for. Think COLD.
I am in your boat and have both my convectors turned off except when it goes way below freezing and then I turn the LR on for a couple hours. I get enough (too much) heat from adjacent apartments and the pipes in the walls to stay warm. But I'm in a 40 year old building, things are different now.
I spent 20 years being cold...being comfortable for a change is a delight.
I hate opening windows because I know the whole co-op gets stuck with extra fuel costs but I am not on the board and have to play the hand I'm dealt. A couple times I have complained to the management company and when they say "Well some people like it warm" I tell them to go into the courtyard and count open windows...sometimes they get the point and turn the heat down.
thank you for having an explanation for climate controlled heat . We have started looking for an apt. in Fremont, Ca. by San Francisco, silicon valley. We do need heat and prefer central heat furnace. We have lived in our home since 1975 are retired and want to go to an apt. I couldn't picture usuing electric for heat as it gets more expensive than anything I would think. From now on I am not looking at apts with the climate controlled thing. I am glad that I put in a search for that question and found your answer. You have told me all that I wanted to know. I do not want that thing for heat out here. We get too cold in the winter.We are retired and on meds etc
You'll need much less heat in the Bay Area — that setup might be fine there.
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