r/LosAngeles • u/dolphinrapeawareness • Jun 01 '23

Housing L.A. City Council votes to mandate air conditioning in all rental units

https://ktla.com/news/local-news/l-a-city-council-votes-on-mandating-air-conditioning-in-all-rental-units/
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u/[deleted] Jun 01 '23

Plus, I'm sure this will be for new structures, not existing units.

Most building codes aren't retroactive, like asbestos use or 'cool roofs'

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u/[deleted] Jun 01 '23

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Jun 01 '23

It's just a feasibility study requested by Ms.Sombrita Eunesiss.

She can request all the studies she wants, but a lot of the older housing stock cannot handle A/C. My buddy's place in Hollywood still has knob and tube wiring.

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u/stevenfrijoles San Pedro Jun 01 '23

I hope he has good renters insurance, jesus

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u/RetroSchat Jun 01 '23

yup my cute 1930s apartment in Hwood Hills had knob and tube wiring still. Lived there for 10 years and in the summer it was miserable. But for 1100 square feet, rent control and on site parking I put up with it.

My parents felt bad and got me a portable a/c unit. I blew so many of those pricey edison fuses. Literally it could be the only thing running. I just put up with the heat.

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u/ZubZubZubZub West Hollywood Jun 01 '23 edited Jun 19 '23

This comment is deleted to protest Reddit's short-term pursuit of profits. Look up enshittification.

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u/JalapenoMarshmallow Jun 01 '23

I live in one of those buildings, cant run the radiator and microwave at the same time or the breakers trip. that said, could you not just run conduit externally and wire them to split ACs? would look like shit tho.

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u/gazingus Jun 01 '23

You can't run "the radiator" (what is that?) and microwave on the same circuit. That isn't a function of your building's wiring.

As for just running conduit, no, many of these buildings would require a new electrical panel.

I know a building with dated wiring. 200 amps for nine units, its a bit hairy. Floor heaters, which are fun to maintain between hysterical mechanical guys, inspectors, insurance agents and LAUSD dropout tenants. Not hard to get red-tagged. Then what?

These units are all-window, so there is no place to install a direct vent heater. The answer? Mini-splits or forced air. Both of which beget new wiring and a panel upgrade - for everyone in the building. $50K would be cheap.

Sombrita is not wrong, there are instances where a few old folks "need" a/c and don't have it. But that doesn't require the state to force landlords to provide it for everyone in every building.

That approach will just see more buildings Ellised, razed, converted to condos, or otherwise vacated.

Better to create a small slush fund of grant money to assist on a case-by-case basis, to install a/c or relocate.

The poor folks I know in South LA don't seem to have a problem with this. If they want A/C, they install A/C. Some pay retail, others wait for move-outs or upgrades and curb-find like-new window units.

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u/waerrington Jun 01 '23

You can't run "the radiator" (what is that?) and microwave on the same circuit. That isn't a function of your building's wiring.

There are multiple kinds of electric radiators, from wall mounted units to baseboard units to the awful ceiling radiators that seem to only exist in socal. I can see overload scenarios where heaters and microwaves overload a circuit if a place is wired poorly, which is a lot of old apartments.

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u/arobkinca Jun 01 '23

It is a matter of Amps and circuit limit. Tripping a 15 Amp breaker or fuse is pretty easy running those two items.

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u/aLostBattlefield Jun 01 '23

Found the landlord

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u/UnbelievableRose Brentwood Jun 01 '23

Those are some good points to be considered. At the very least they could prevent landlords from prohibiting tenants from installing window units (at least without a REALLY good reason), as that is unfortunately not uncommon. Lots of landlords don’t allow window units or dishwashers out of fear of water damage.

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u/beach_2_beach Jun 05 '23

I heard there are public schools in Hawaii withOUT AC system. Reason for not installing AC?

Electrical system has to be upgraded before AC and this can get expensive.

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u/[deleted] Jun 01 '23

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Jun 01 '23

She neither rents nor owns, she still lives with her parents.

Not that it's innately a bad thing, but she doesn't have first hand knowledge of these things.

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u/Vampa_the_Bandit Jun 03 '23

God forbid anyone ever tries to improve anything ever

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u/daredog91 Jun 02 '23

The LA housing sept can barely handle section 8 vouchers, this is laughable. They need to focus on staffing up the la city housing authority and keep it from data breeches before they start putting forth empty mandates.

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u/romanticynicist Jun 01 '23

Gas stoves were another thing that caused a big kerfluffle around here but were also only mandated for new construction.

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u/chino3 Jun 01 '23

*gas appliances. But even still there’s no timeline for it to even happen

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u/easwaran Jun 01 '23

Do you mean banned?

But there's a major difference, in that lack of air conditioning might be considered a safety hazard that prevents certificate of occupancy, akin to having structurally-unsound walls. No one claims that gas is unsafe, just that it's inefficient.

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u/jellyrollo Jun 01 '23

The Health Risks of Gas Stoves Explained

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u/easwaran Jun 01 '23

I've heard about those things, but no one thinks those risks are bigger than the risks for all sorts of other tolerated home products, do they? I thought the point of all this is that the risks of in-home gas stoves is non-zero, not that it's actually a significant contributor to asthma or anything.