Hot Water Issue - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Eddie Bronze · 05-25-2007, 05:03 PM

This is the scenario:
Hot water comes in the kitchen sink tap and in the bathroom sink tap. But no hot water will come in the tub tap. This has been an issue now for the past 3 days.

I've been living in this condo for roughly 17 months and never have I turned a tap on and had hot water come out within seconds. Sometimes it takes minutes, literally, to get hot water. There was a gentleman in the building who took this issue up with the City of Calgary and the condo management group. Apparently, the management group told him to shove it and that they wouldn't do anything about it. Yet they have the audacity to raise condo fees. If they want to know why the water bill is going up, it's because you have to run water for so long just to take a warm shower, have a shave, etc. You would think the city would want a problem like this fixed considering the strain on water placed upon a city of a million people.

I called the city and the dummies there told me it was a landlord/tenant issue. I know for a fact it's not. I have no issues with my landlord, he didn't build the condos. This is a problem that's existed for the duration of time this building has been inhabited, I know it was only built a couple years ago, I am the only one to ever live in this unit.

Who does the knowledgable crowd at CP think I should go to to get the problem fixed?

Flashpoint · 05-25-2007, 05:14 PM

Take showers.

Eddie Bronze · 05-25-2007, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flashpoint

Take showers.

In cold water, yeah, thanks I've been doing that.

Fotze,

If owners in the building can't get the problem fixed I don't see it as a landlord/tenant issue. I see it as a condo management issue and I'd like to contact the proper people at the city of Calgary and have them get down the throats of the management group to make them do something.

Flash Walken · 05-25-2007, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eddie Bronze

In cold water, yeah, thanks I've been doing that.

Fotze,

If owners in the building can't get the problem fixed I don't see it as a landlord/tenant issue. I see it as a condo management issue and I'd like to contact the proper people at the city of Calgary and have them get down the throats of the management group to make them do something.

Rally the troops (your neighbours) and approach the management group, proclaim your demands and warn of bloodshed should your demands not be met. Then, brandish a knife and have someone behind you start whirling around a chain.

Eddie Bronze · 05-25-2007, 06:26 PM

There is a condo management group in charge of that, Fotze. The condos are all owned by seperate owners. I rent from an owner, not the management group. Sorry I didn't make that part clear.

Dion · 05-25-2007, 06:42 PM

Get your landlord to deal with the problem.

Eddie Bronze · 05-25-2007, 10:17 PM

Haha, yeah it's always easier to push off problems on someone else. He is an owner, but other owners have already been told to pi** off by the management group so why would they tell him any different?

I like to take care of things myself, I just need to know who to go to but apparently no one seems to know.

Barnes · 05-25-2007, 10:32 PM

^^The condo management company. Any mechanical issues like this is their responsibility. Since you are a renter, not sure if you can approach the company. It may have to be an owner. Talk to the condo board and have them send a letter stating that they have contacted a plumber and the bill will be sent to the management company.

Dion · 05-25-2007, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eddie Bronze

Haha, yeah it's always easier to push off problems on someone else. He is an owner, but other owners have already been told to pi** off by the management group so why would they tell him any different?

I like to take care of things myself, I just need to know who to go to but apparently no one seems to know.

Push off problems? It's the responsibilty of the owner to get things fixed - that's what you pay rent for. You want the headaches of dealing with a condo board, no problem. Maybe you should ask your landlord for reduced rent if you're going to deal with his problems.

I-Hate-Hulse · 05-25-2007, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eddie Bronze

This is the scenario:
Hot water comes in the kitchen sink tap and in the bathroom sink tap. But no hot water will come in the tub tap. This has been an issue now for the past 3 days.

I've been living in this condo for roughly 17 months and never have I turned a tap on and had hot water come out within seconds. Sometimes it takes minutes, literally, to get hot water.

I'm confused - are you saying your tub tap won't put out hot water at all or does it just take a while and you're worried about wastage?

Eddie Bronze · 05-25-2007, 11:59 PM

Hulse,

It's always been an issue that it takes time to get warm water. That's the wastage problem. The last three days, there's been NO hot water to wait for.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dion

Maybe you should ask your landlord for reduced rent if you're going to deal with his problems.

How is it his problem? He's not the one without hot water, I am.

This is clearly a problem that the management group needs to deal with. Barnes gave a good suggestion but I'm not sure it will work. Owners approached them about it before and obviously it did no good. We need someone higher to get after them. Who is in charge of water at the city?

The explanation given for waiting time was that the hot water tanks are located in the roof and the water circulates down to the underground parking which is how that level is heated. It's then circulated back up to each floor. I'm on the second floor and have to wait 60-120 seconds to get hot water, I can get it faster if I turn on two taps, so what wait times do people have on the fourth floor and how much water is being wasted?

Incinerator · 05-26-2007, 12:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eddie Bronze

Haha, yeah it's always easier to push off problems on someone else. He is an owner, but other owners have already been told to pi** off by the management group so why would they tell him any different?

I like to take care of things myself, I just need to know who to go to but apparently no one seems to know.

Go to your landlord. Who is the owner of your condo unit. He should then send a letter to the Condo Board to bring up the issue. The Board should then tell the management company to fix it, and rest assured the Board is not going to hear anything as much as a peep from the company about shoving it somewhere. Because the Board is the boss and they get to choose who to hand the contract to when it comes up for renewal...or even terminate it altogether if things are bad enough.

You as a tenant can do nothing other than follow the path I just described. A tenant has no say whatsoever in a condominium complex, your only form of expression is limited to bitching to your landlord. No ifs ands or buts. The management company is fully within its rights to tell you to take a hike when you bitch to them.

If the Board fails to solve the problem then maybe those owners who were told to p-off by the management company before should all band together and vote out the board at the AGM and vote themselves in to get this show on the road, so to speak.

Incinerator · 05-26-2007, 12:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eddie Bronze

How is it his problem? He's not the one without hot water, I am.

He owns the unit you're living in, making anything to do with his unit directly his problem.

Dion · 05-26-2007, 01:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eddie Bronze

How is it his problem? He's not the one without hot water, I am.

He's the owner of the property and it's his responsibility to get the problem fixed.

Quote:

This is clearly a problem that the management group needs to deal with. Barnes gave a good suggestion but I'm not sure it will work. Owners approached them about it before and obviously it did no good. We need someone higher to get after them. Who is in charge of water at the city?

Get your landlord to find someone who wil go after the board. Why should you the tenant do his work?

Eddie Bronze · 05-26-2007, 08:07 AM

Yeah, we turn the water taps on and let them run all the time and then the condo fees are going up. I doubt anyone would be fond of that idea.

I'm not saying it's the cities problem Fotze, I just thought there could be people at the City who could get after them. Remember when we had the floods, Bronco calling for people to be careful about their usage of water because of the strain it put on the treatment plants? As far as I know, the city has limits in place as to how long one can wait before they get hot water and I'm sure this place is breaking those rules so I can't see why there wouldn't be someone working at the city who would say, "Stop forcing these people to waste water and get the problem fixed."

Ace · 05-26-2007, 09:06 AM

some condo's are built with individual water shut offs for the entire unit. This way if you go on vacation you can turn the water off to avoid anything happening. It's possible that when they did the plumbing in your building your tub hot water has been connected to somebody else's water shut off, and perhaps 3 days ago they went on vacation. If you can diagnose that as a problem then they will know either: how to fix it, or to tell the other owner not to shut theirs off...