Boiler Not Draining


Our 4-unit building has a 3 year old Burnham Independence boiler for our steam heat system. A couple of months ago the valve where you drain the boiler was dripping uncontrollably. We had a plumber fix it, but since then when I try to do the weekly draining of the boiler (open the valve and drain until the water turns clear), no water comes out – zero, nada. The plumber did say that after their fix, we would not need to drain it for the rest of the season. Does that sound right, or did they do something wrong in fixing it?

Note that before all this, the boiler stopped working and the plumber worked for a while before determining that the pilot light had gone out.

Categories: Heating
By apartmenter1 | 03/22/2011 11:34 AM | Comment

Co-Op Vacation Swap Rules/Practice


We are thinking about doing a one-week vacation swap of our co-op in a small building, using one of the major online services. Does anyone have experience with the legality of doing a brief house swap, or the practice of doing it without asking co-op permission? How different is it from having someone stay in your place to pet-sit?

Categories: Co-Op Related
By apartmenter1 | 03/07/2011 1:56 PM | Comment

Pot Smoking Next Door


Next door to our coop building is a privately owned townhouse. One of the family members (the 20-something son) sits on the stoop multiple times per day smoking pot. I wouldn’t care except that somehow the air circulates in such a way that a lot of the smoke comes into our building’s foyer and stairway (somehow being sucked through the mail slot or cracks around the door). The smell is really intense. Jokes aside, it’s getting old trying to dodge my kids’ questions about the funny “cigarrette” smell all the time.
The problem is that the family in question is not one that you would feel comfortable asking for them to go inside. Hostility and/or vandalism would likely result. They probably don’t want to admit their kid is doing this. The question is, if we were to call the local precinct, is there anything they would actually do? Can they arrest someone for possesion of a small amount of pot on their private property?
BTW, this is not about white gentrifiers complaining about the local poor people — these neighbors are white, pre-gentrification Park Slopers.

Categories: Quality of Life
By apartmenter1 | 02/17/2011 10:41 AM | Comment

Coop refinancing requirements


We are in the process of refinancing our Coop apartment, which is in a 4 unit building. The bank, who we are dealing with directly, wants both an audited financial statement and an operating budget for the building. We have always done un-audited statements, and we do not do a operating budget. The same was true for another 4-unit coop we lived in.

We did not have to meet these requirements to buy our apartment with the same bank. The mortgage officer says that of course, “things have changed.” Have they really, or is the bank just applying national standards for large coop buildings unnecessarily to a small building? How should we proceed?

Categories: Mortgage
By apartmenter1 | 08/26/2009 2:57 PM | Comment

radiator / riser banging


Less than a year ago our 4-story building got a new boiler for our steam heat system. This fixed the atrocious banging we had in some risers when the heat turned on.
However, in the last few weeks the banging has started again in one of the risers, again when the boiler turns on early each morning. Is there something we or a plumber could do to fix this problem, without a huge amount of work?

Categories: Heating
By apartmenter1 | 02/09/2009 3:08 PM | Comment