Reflections on 20 Years, pt 6

I've been watching the recent work on the building to the east of us & it made me wonder why it is that the HVAC always goes out when it is miserably hot or miserably cold. At least that's been my experience over the last 20 years. 

One of the many curious things about renting commercial space is that unlike renting an apartment or a home, when you lease space you are responsible for everything. That includes the mechanical systems like the HVAC. 

Except for the 2nd Rockville space we haven't moved into a space with an HVAC system less than 20 years old. In addition, no space comes with any information about past maintenance of these units and since they are really expensive to replace (usually requiring a crane to lift them into place on the roof), until there is absolutely no hope of recovery replacement is not an option. Luckily, we have managed to find great maintenance companies (i.e. Congressional Heating & Cooling) that understand the power of duct tape and spit to keep these old systems together. Which brings me back to my earlier query. I can't remember one time that we needed a repair when it was a lovely, cool, sunny day. Usually it was windy & cold or blazingly hot!

We've also been really fortunate that none (knock on wood) have become terminal until just before we were making a big change. Winter of 2003 the very aged unit on the roof on N. Washington St in Rockville decided that it just couldn't go on. With the building slated for demolition in just a few months, it seemed silly to put any money into fixing it. Good thing customers had coats & with the addition of a couple of space heaters (office and point of sale) and long underwear we survived until we closed at the end of January 2004.

The funny thing is that we had a similar thing happen just before we closed on Bethesda Avenue. Not quite so extreme, but we had a minor problem (someone had switched it off on the roof!) and while determining the cause it was discovereded we were only a short time away from this unit looking to retire. Again, we ignored it, moved out and over to Hampden Lane where we again have been coaxing another old HVAC system to keep it's chin up. Do you think they know something we don't know?

While we have been really lucky in the HVAC companies we have used, we have also been really lucky in the quality of these old units, 'cause the funny thing is that the brand new unit in Rockville Town Square wound up needing a very costly repair after only 3 years (of course, the warranty had expired). Sadly, I think that says something else entirely!