UPDATE May 6th

GOOD NEWS:

Maintenance is pleased to report the Chiller Plant is ready to go for the season, and we anticipate making the first daytime switch to cooling on Monday, May 9th. Though not expected to be too hot, it will be hot enough to do the seasons first start up and to run tests and make sure everything is going smoothly.

HOWEVER, The Fan Coil Loop Pump Project is coming. Our team is watching the weather very closely, and if it appears we have a good window of weather to get the work done, they will get rolling. The materials are in and the vendor hired to make this Replacement is ready to proceed. This work will take 7 to 10 days barring unknown conditions. Neither HEAT or AC will be available during this window of time.

Because we are obligated by City ordinance to provide HEAT until June, the “drop dead” dead date to get rolling is June 1st. As of now we are planning to do this work right at the beginning of the month. However, the team will be watching very close and if a better opportunity weather wise presents itself, the work will begin.

We have been asked, why don’t we get permission from the City to have a variance from the ordinance and begin the project when we like. Easier said than done, and we would likely need more than half the residents to sign a waiver, to avoid potential lawsuits if temperatures fellow below the City’s threshold. However I think all we need to do is consider how unreasonable the weather has been this Spring. Conditions would be intolerable without heat.

This work needs to be done. No time is a good time to be without Heat or AC, but if we don’t do this, we will end up with neither.

UPDATE April 22nd

We fully realize the temperatures this weekend are expected to get quite warm.

However, our cooling plant is not yet ready to fill with water. There is still maintenance and repairs needed in the cooling tower on the roof, and the weather over the past couple weeks has not cooperated enough to complete the needed work. They do however expect to get this completed within the next week or so.

Not to mention, we are still expecting temperatures in the 30 degree range next week. That is still risky to be talking about filling our cooling tower.

We appreciate everyone’s patience while the systems maintenance is completed.

Cooling Season Still A Ways Away

We realize this can be a tough time of year, and the past couple days have been on the stuffy side, but we are not yet ready switch to cooling.

Our team has already been preparing Park Tower’s cooling plant for the coming summer season, and for the most part it’s ready to go. We have some professional repairs and cleaning scheduled for the cooling tower next week, and after that the main chillers can be tested. Despite the warmer weather we are having right now – and we do realize it can be uncomfortable particularly when it is as humid as it has been – we can’t yet fill the cooling tower. The present weather outlook calls for a string of lows in the 30s next week, and sadly that has to be taken into consideration.

As has been the case in the past, there have been years when the cooling plant has not been available until the middle of May. It is a process that requires patience, but we are working on it.

The possibility of freezing temperatures does have to be taken into consideration. For that reason we keep a close eye to the weather forecast and once we are team feels comfortable that we can safely fill the cooling tower, they will. Given the time of year, heating remains our priority, consistent with requirements of the Chicago Heating Ordinance. Once our system is ready though, we expect to have cooling available should the weather call for it. We expect by June, the heating plant will be taken out of service for seasonal maintenance, and the system will default to cooling for the duration of the summer.

ALSO – this year, there will be a period where neither heating or cooling will be available due to the coming, Fan Coil Loop Pump Project – This project was actually approved last year but could not be done during the heating season. Maintenance has reported that the vendor hired to make this replacement has gotten all the materials in to complete this work and is ready to proceed. This work will take 7 to 10 days barring unknown conditions. HEAT and AC will not be available during this window of time. And because we are obligated by City ordinance to provide HEAT until June, we are planning to do this work right at the beginning of the month.

WHEN WE CAN SAFELY SWITCH TO COOLING, please remember, until the heating plant is off for the season, it does take a lot of time to move to and from heating and cooling. There is no magical switch to turn one off and the other on. We can’t flood the system with cold water when it is already filled with hot water and visa/versa. That would do catastrophic damage to pipes and mechanical equipment. We need to allow the water temperature to moderate before flipping over. This process can take 6 to 8 hours, so please have patience.

While it will not be 100% comfortable for 100% of our residents, 100% of the time, resident comments and observations can help us make adjustments and improve conditions as much as possible. E-mail us at parktowercondo-mgmt@habitat.com, or call the office 773-769-3250.