Fan coil replacement

At one condo, you can buy & install your own fan coil but it will cost you big time.

Fan coils are the standard heating and cooling systems in most condo residential towers. They work like radiators. In the winter, the water pipes pump hot water through the fan coils. In the summer, the system pumps chilled water though the fan coils. You can have either hot water or chilled water on at any one time and it usually takes two to three days to switch from one to the other.

Note that fan coils are not air conditioners. The air coming through them may be cool but the moisture in your unit has not been removed. If you want that, you’ll have to buy a dehumidifier.

Fan coils need replacement. Sometimes it is done every 25 years but it is not uncommon to see 40 year-old fan coils.

Who pays?

Here is where it gets political. The unit owner owns the fan coils that are in their unit. Therefore, the unit owner should pay the few thousand dollars that it costs to replace them. However, when they hear this, the owners holler like cattle lined up at a slaughter house.

So the decision to replace the fan coils gets push out and pushed out some more until reality can no longer be ignored.

Some condos will use the Reserve Funds to pay for the fan coils. That keeps the owners quiet but it puts a big dent into the Reserves. However, the condo corporation will face that problem some day down the road.

Below is an email that I received from a reader.

A reader writes

Don’t laugh too hard. Other companies quoted owners better prices and warranties so the board can’t have other contractors looking after the owners.

So what is going on here? It’s quite simple really. The owners have to pay for new fan coils. The condo arranged for a bulk buy package from an installation company. However, some owners asked for quotes from other suppliers, who offer lower prices and better warrenties.

That will never do so the corporation states that if you buy your own fan coil, they will charge the owners $1,000 plus HST for every fan coil that the owner installs. That price is so high that it will force all the owners to purchase their new coils from the supplier that the corporation chose.

The only work-around is if the fan coils have existing shutoff valves installed and they are not seized. Then the unit fan coil can be isolated from the riser and the unit riser can be replaced with no expense to the corporation. However, many old shutoff valves are seized.

Anyway, it is wise for the owners to have the corporation’s contractors do the work even if it cost a little extra. That way if anything goes wrong, the owner will not be held responsible.

A second email

The owners here used the only tool they have with a board that they don’t trust. They used the power of the lack of quorum to ignore the board for the first time in 36 years.

No doubt the board will blame the owners labelling apathy, but in the past two months there were three town hall meetings about replacing the aging fan coils here and people showed up. The board gave owners 30 days notice to decide and then pay the $2,500 per fan coil.

It shows the board has no concept of planning and budgeting, just write a cheque.

The board didn’t run around collecting proxies because of the attitude left after the fan coil sessions, all while another owner gets competitive quotes with better financing and longer warranties, to muddy the chilled or heated water.

The condo down the street replaced their fan coils and the board let the owners choose their own contractor and only acted to co-ordinate the installation.

Our board also did not want any of the other candidates to get votes…any new board member will want to know why our board only meets a couple of times a year.

The latest part of the fan coil saga will be announced later today. Owners can purchase new shutoff valves, and not purchase a new fan coil, for just $500.00.

Charging $500 to replace two water pipe valves is expensive as the contractors will be on site and the water will have been drained out of the riser. Replacing the valves should take about a half hour.

The owner will be able to retain their existing fan coil but that can be risky. If the drip pan overflows or if there is a different leak in their fan coil, the owner will be responsible to pay for any water damage done to the units below. At a minimum, they would be wise to regularly check the drip pan to insure that it is draining properly.

I would advise the owners to replace the fan coils.