I bought an old condo (used to be an apartment complex converted to condominium). The association pays for the electricity, we don't have a separate electricity meter for each unit.
From what I've been told, the cold/heat is run by the "chilling" water (???) . The unit is attached to the attic and has pipes (for chilling/ heating water ???) run thru it. It used to have two set of thermostats: one has one knob which can turn to Off, Low, Medium and High position. The other thermostat was an old type which can switch to AC, Heat and temperature setting.
I bought the unit 2 mos ago, haven't moved in yet. The unit leaked, I replaced the drain pan from one company. The technician convinced me to replace the old thermostat (with switch to AC, Heat) to a more modern "programmable" one (charged me $150 for install that one). I didn't run the AC after that because of the dust around the house (I had to fix sheetrocks in many places).
Long story short, the entire unit died. I have to replace the entire unit with a type "HBC, PHBC, RHBC & CHBC Horizontal Hydronic Fan Coil Unit" by another company two weeks ago. The technician removed the "programmable" thermostat and leave only the one with Off, Low...High one. When I asked him how can I turn to the AC, Heat and set the temperature, he came back yesterday and put the "programmable" back. Then the unit died again.
He came back today, fixed the problem. He said "one wire was loose". The unit is running for the last 8 hours but the temperature inside unchanges. It showed 83 degree even though the setting was 72 degree (the knob of the other thermostat is at "High").
I asked one neighbor, he told me if he remembers it correctly, the unit must use the old type of thermostat (with the handle manually switch to AC, Heat), not the "programmable" type.
I'm very tired of the AC problem. I wanted to move in but it's too warm inside. If anyone out there with knowledge about that type of unit then PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME OUT. I paid over $3,000 for the little bitty unit to different installers but it still doesn't work. I hope they didn't take advantage of me. I have heard stories about contractors take advantage of senior citizens but I'm not sure if I'm one of them.
Thanks very much for all your help. April