Condo - Utility / HVAC Question (Arlington: apartment, rentals, homeowners association)

[newres332]

Hey everyone!
I'm looking at a Condo in Arlington and I'm trying to figure out how the utility situation is.

I'm told that Condo fees cover everything but electricity and natural gas.

The furnace is natural gas but there is no water heater in the unit. The building was built in 2007.

Also, in this building the mechanical room is not on an exterior wall but rather a closet in the middle of the unit. I see no AC compressor and satellite images do not show individual compressors on the roof for each unit. This is a 9 floor condo building.

Since its new, I'm assuming that each unit can decide whether to run AC or Heat. However since I do not see a compressor, I'm curious how the refrigerant gets to the air handler.

I can't imagine that a building this new would not let its owners decide for themselves when to turn on heat/ac and thus have only one temperature piped throughout the building -- but is that possible?

The only good thing I can think of that is a lower electricity bill in the summer due to no individual compressor -- and greater efficiency if there is one or two cooling towers for the whole building.

Anyone have any ideas?

[HokieFan]

I would suggest contacting the Condo Homeowners Association with your questions.

Personally, I would not want anyone else being able to control the temperature in my home. I know someone who lives in a apartment where the heating/cooling is controlled universally. They have already switched over to heat and with the temps being as warm as they were last week, it wasn't pleasant for them with no way to cool the apartment.

[NOVA_almost_native]

Agreed that you should contact the HOA about this. I also would expect the heating and air conditioning to be individually controlled in such a new building, but it's important to make sure that they are--it would be miserable to have heat piped in to your unit on a warm day!

Our building was built in the late 90s, and we control the AC and heat. Our condo fee covers water, but no other utilities.

[newres332]

Thanks, I will do that. I can see that other nearby buildings, all built in the last few years have hundreds of AC compressors on their roofs. This one doesn't and doesn't have the AC Compressor on the side like lots of newer rentals. As long as they pipe cold water/refrigerant all year round I wouldn't mind as the furnace is definitely gas and in the unit.

[ecko_complex24]

It may have a room in the building where all the condensing units are.

[newres332]

Originally Posted by ecko_complex24

It may have a room in the building where all the condensing units are.

Bummer, I was kind of hoping otherwise. It would be great if it was one giant cooling tower -- a lot more efficient than 150 compressors.

I'll find out soon though, the Realtor is waiting to hear back from mgmt.