Evaporative Cooling Too Weak: How to Deal with This Landlord?

Lunderground9 on 08/12/2020 - 22:16
Last edited 09/12/2020 - 13:04

Hi all,

Long time reader, first time poster here. Just wanted to ask you guys if landlord's handling is appropriate here and how to deal with him/her to get the best possible outcome.

Our rental house has evaporative cooling and the air coming out is very very weak at maximum settings. We put a tissue in front of every duct to test, the air is not enough to even move/blow the tissue and the system was struggling even it was only 28-29C 2 weeks ago in Melbourne. We called real estate agent and asked if someone can attend and check if something is wrong and here is the response from agent:

"Hi,

I have asked the owner. This is the evaporative cooling system. It is different from air conditioning. It works by filtering hot air instead of cooling by the refrigerant. So its effect is not that strong.

Of course, if you think there is a problem, the landlord can arrange for someone to come and have a look. But if there is no problem with the machine itself, you need to pay for the invoice.

Would you like to go head?
"

This is our first time using evaporative cooling, however, when we went to one of our friend's house, we can see that their evaporative system's fan is very strong so I am a bit confused. Out windows are open when we use the system.

How should I deal with this landlord?

We're paying $600+/week for rent and cooling system was part of rental ad.

Thanks,
underground9

Updated 1:
Here is the setting I have in the remote: https://ibb.co/GRtZw7w
So I got some videos recorded just now:
- Max fan setting: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WowxNjh7K0UG9bN7aL1rJIHNNA-…
- Max fan setting with boost: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13aoMsLPFhbBjzPhoKW2ekAi8PG_…

Home & Garden

Comments

  • Quantumcat on 08/12/2020 - 22:23
    +2

    Make sure the tap to the air conditioner is turned on. The tap usually gets flushed and turned off in winter so that water doesn't freeze inside and burst the pipe.

    • wallet72 on 08/12/2020 - 22:25
      +1

      oh good point. I do remember having an evaporative aircon system in WA that stopped working when the water intake go blocked.

    • underground9 on 08/12/2020 - 22:45

      There is air coming out but it’s very weak, basically not even enough to blow my hair or a tissue at maximum fan setting. Would this still apply?

      • Quantumcat on 08/12/2020 - 22:47
        +1

        It takes two seconds to check so you might as well try. If you moved in more than a few months ago probably nobody has turned it on for summer yet, that was your responsibility.

        • underground9 on 08/12/2020 - 22:50

          Will try tomorrow! Ironically, it’s quite cold today in Melbourne and am writing about evaporative cooling now :))

      • wallet72 on 08/12/2020 - 22:48

        it could depend on the unit, some shut down others just switch to restricted mode.

        It does sound like yours is b0rked though.

  • PissLUR on 08/12/2020 - 22:23
    +1

    Yes get them to arrange that

  • wallet72 on 08/12/2020 - 22:24
    +1

    If the tissue isn't moving AND you are sure the system is set or switched on or whatever correctly then get the agent to organise the repair.

    Worst case, you pay around $150 for someone to tell you evap sucks, best case you get it fixed.

  • Switchblade88 on 08/12/2020 - 22:29
    +3

    Ask to see the receipts of the service history of the aircon?

    These swampies need annual checkups, cleaning the roof batts, draining the mud/silt/calcium.

    If you don't have enough airflow then either your fan is stuffed or the batts are blocked; both of which are a service item. Definitely book a service.

  • Willco88 on 08/12/2020 - 22:51
    -8

    $600 a week that's $30,000 a year you're throwing away… Could get a home loan for much less!!

    • underground9 on 08/12/2020 - 23:07
      +1

      Opening realestate and domain again now…. :-D

    • whooah1979 on 09/12/2020 - 00:22
      +3

      Nobody wants to get locked in debt for 30 years unless they have to. Renting gives people the freedom to move around.

      • brendanm on 09/12/2020 - 07:33

        Yep, once you have a house you can't possibly sell it. Much better to pay someone elses mortgage and have nothing to show for it.

        • Quantumcat on 09/12/2020 - 07:41
          +1

          If you have to move every six months or every year, the stamp duty adds up. Much more cost effective to rent.

          • brendanm on 09/12/2020 - 08:53

            @Quantumcat: How many people have to move every 6 months? You planning to continue renting when you retire?

            • Quantumcat on 09/12/2020 - 09:05

              @brendanm: Most people that work for the military for one

              • brendanm on 09/12/2020 - 09:26

                @Quantumcat: They move every six months? Luckily they are subsidised for accommodation I suppose. They do make up 0.2% of the population.

        • whooah1979 on 09/12/2020 - 07:59

          There is nothing wrong with paying for accommodation.

          This is the 21st century. People owning assets to show for it is as old as sand and dirt. People can now walk around with millions of gold worth of assets of in their pockets and nobody would know. The best part is that they can use it to pay for that creamy cup of cappuccino any time they want.

          • pjetson on 09/12/2020 - 08:23

            @whooah1979:

            People can now walk around with millions of assets worth of gold in their pockets and nobody would know

            I'm going to take a wild guess that a million dollars worth of gold would probably weigh about 20kg. You said "millions", so let's say that you have 20kg of gold in each trouser front pocket. I'm pretty sure people would notice :-)

            • whooah1979 on 09/12/2020 - 08:59

              @pjetson: A million in gold derivatives weigh about as much as 10 McD chicken nuggets. Millions would be the same weight.

              • pjetson on 09/12/2020 - 11:52

                @whooah1979: Is that Chicken McNuggets in your pockets, or are you just rich?

    • netjock on 09/12/2020 - 13:33

      Yield is currently like 3% gross. OP is living in a $1m property. $800k loan, 2% interest rate, 30 years is $35k a year.

  • [Deactivated] on 08/12/2020 - 22:53
    +1

    $600+/week

    Should of been fixed already, should of been fixed before even moving in

    • Willco88 on 08/12/2020 - 23:02
      -3

      Would expect top notch service with a 24hr doorman and stripper's on call for that $$$

    • underground9 on 08/12/2020 - 23:10
      +1

      That’s the point. Problem is landlord thinks it’s not a problem and wants to me to pay for the bill. I am pretty pissed off by that idea to be honest.

      Help me on how to deal with this landlord?

      • TheBooleanOne on 08/12/2020 - 23:48

        How long until your lease comes up for renewal?

        I'd be threatening to move / or just move, if that's the way they're going to be.

      • Willco88 on 08/12/2020 - 23:50
        -1

        Move out surely you can find something much cheaper with much better service

      • brendanm on 09/12/2020 - 07:34
        +2

        No, they don't. They said they will pay for it if it's a problem, and you will pay for it if not. They have probably had people expect evap to be like proper AC before.

      • Bushbasha on 10/12/2020 - 07:07

        This is normal, I'm not a landlord but imagine if you were one and you had renters saying there was problems with everything every few weeks because they didn't know how to use it and couldn't be arse to google a manual etc, it would cost the landlord a lot in call out fees. This way if there isn't an issue the renter pays the call out fee. It's pretty simple to comprehend.

  • MS Paint on 08/12/2020 - 23:08
    +5

    An evaporative cooler should blow the tissue well and truly out of your hand at full speed. Something is wrong for sure.

  • clover on 08/12/2020 - 23:11

    If I am paying 600 week rent , I am expecting aircon

    • underground9 on 08/12/2020 - 23:13

      Central Refrigerated one?

      • Keplaffintech on 09/12/2020 - 13:17
        +1

        yeah, evaporative cooling won't do anything on a hot, humid day

  • avoidfullprice on 08/12/2020 - 23:43

    Video it is not blowing tissues while it is at full speed as record. Get the handy man to come and inspect the fan. Don't pay invoice until fan is replaced.

    Is what I would do

  • AustriaBargain on 09/12/2020 - 03:38
    +1

    Since when do you need to pay for your landlord's tradespeople callout fee? That can't be true, I bet only suckers would pay that.

    • Austaurean on 09/12/2020 - 06:21
      +1

      True if there is a fault, which seems very likely.

      But if there is no fault then why should the landlord pay..

      • AustriaBargain on 09/12/2020 - 06:34

        Why should you pay. It's the landlord's airconditioner or sink or whatever, your ownership of it ends when your lease is up. How can they know or prove you were lying about the AC not working properly intermittently.

        • bobbified on 09/12/2020 - 06:55

          If you, as the tenant, complain that there's a problem and there isn't, why should the landlord pay? And if there really is a problem, then the landlord pays.

          If the tenant never had to pay, some would constantly call and the landlord would have to keep paying.
          It works from the other way too. The landlord knows that they only pay if there really is something wrong. So when a tenant complains that there's a problem, they can be confident that they'll only pay if there's a problem. If they think there's no problem and they're going to have to pay anyway, good luck getting them to send someone out to look at the "problem".

          • AustriaBargain on 09/12/2020 - 07:00

            @bobbified: So if the AC dies as you described after you paid the fee, they refund the fee because it proves you weren't lying?

            • bobbified on 09/12/2020 - 07:02
              +1

              @AustriaBargain: The bill is usually initially paid by the real estate agent regardless.
              If there was no problem, they'll try recover the money from you. If there was a problem, then they won't try to recover it.

              • AustriaBargain on 09/12/2020 - 07:12

                @bobbified: I wouldn’t pay.

                • bobbified on 09/12/2020 - 07:15

                  @AustriaBargain: They'll just add it to your rent.
                  You think it's fair that the landlord has to pay because you mistakenly thought there was a problem?

                  And if you don't pay the first time, good luck getting them to agree on sending out a tradie next time you complain about a "problem".

                  • AustriaBargain on 09/12/2020 - 07:53

                    @bobbified: I've had this exact thing happen before and I wasn't charged. Although I did talk the repairman into just hauling it away and putting in a new one, I think he was kinda happy to keep the old one. But I didn't pay anything and I wouldn't have expected to pay anything, the rooms in that house were unlivable in summer without AC. Wouldn't have even occurred to me that I'd have to pay when the guy came out and it seemed to run fine. I witnessed it arcing which to me was no doubt that it needed fixing or replacing.

                    • bobbified on 09/12/2020 - 08:16
                      +1

                      @AustriaBargain:

                      …the repairman into just hauling it away and putting in a new one

                      This would be why you didn't pay. He actually had to do something, so like i said before - if there's an actual problem, the landlord pays. If no problem, you pay.

                • whooah1979 on 09/12/2020 - 07:18

                  @AustriaBargain: The tenant may run the risk of getting a mark on their credit score if they don't pay their bills.

  • RM on 09/12/2020 - 08:02
    +1

    Do you have any windows open while the unit is on? If not, try opening a few windows in a couple of rooms, not too much, just about 3-5 inches wide and then switch on the EC unit.

    See if there is a difference between the rooms where you opened the windows and where you did not.

    • EightImmortals on 09/12/2020 - 08:25
      +1

      This, evap air cons need a window or 2 opened up. But from what are saying it sounds like the blower/fan is cactus.

  • kizzy on 09/12/2020 - 08:09

    Sounds broken to me. Should put out a good airflow. Just double check your switches as some have fan control as well as temp control.

  • BertieBrown on 09/12/2020 - 12:25
    +1

    Sounds like the fan is stuffed if it’s not blowing a tissue at full tilt, at least that would be my first thought.

    Being a rental you can’t just hop up on the roof, but that would one of the easiest ways to figure out if the fans not working.

    Evaporative are really basic units; the basic ingredients are basically a water pump, a drain valve or a drip, a fan, and some filters that the fan sucks hot air through.

    The fan controls how much air flow you get through the vents, and even if you have a stupidly oversized number of vents and an undersized unit in a massive house you’re still going to get it blowing some air through.

    Anecdotally we’ve got one of the smaller Braemar units (lcb450) with six ducts in a 135 sq/m house (it’s just on the slightly undersized size but it does the job) and on max setting standing under the vent first down from the central splitter it blows cards and paper around the place with ease.

  • underground9 on 09/12/2020 - 12:29

    Here is the setting I have in the remote: https://ibb.co/GRtZw7w
    So I got some videos recorded just now:
    - Max fan setting: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WowxNjh7K0UG9bN7aL1rJIHNNA-…
    - Max fan setting with boost: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13aoMsLPFhbBjzPhoKW2ekAi8PG_…

    Well the tissue (its flanks) were slightly moved with both settings, but would you expect it to be moved a lot more?

  • kmwa on 09/12/2020 - 12:53
    +1

    Can you post a picture of the unit on the roof?
    I'm wondering if it has the winter covers on it, that should be removed at the start of the hot weather.

    • netjock on 09/12/2020 - 13:30
      +1

      …and it needs to get serviced at end of summer and start of winter. It is like $300 for both visits, if not more now.

  • kranix on 09/12/2020 - 19:05
    +1

    Evaporative cooling needs a dry environment to be effective. Melbourne is usually not dry enough for such systems to cool very well.

    • lgacb08 on 17/12/2020 - 21:58

      Lol, Melbourne is not dry? Try going to Cairns or even Sydney this time of the year to check humidity first mate.

      • kranix on 18/12/2020 - 20:43

        Clearly you don't understand the science behind evaporative cooling.

  • jakentta on 10/12/2020 - 09:14
    +1

    We had evaporative aircon in our previous house. Don't know if they've changed much, but that unit was about 10 years old. And while not freezer cold ever and it would struggle on really hot days, it certainly did bring the temperature down. I would say the maximum it could do was about 10 degrees, so on a 42 degree day it was still 32 inside, but it least it was something!
    We once had a problem with it, where the water into it was not working for some reason, but even then the fan was blowing air at a pretty good rate. Although the air was not cold, you certainly could feel it. There is also a setting on the remote where you can have it operate just the fan, without actually using the evaporative function at all. As has been mentioned here already, these units do need their regular checkups and maintenance. So I would definitely get it checked.

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