# What Aircon Temp/Humidity levels should be demanded from a Landlord



## bluebossa (Apr 26, 2015)

I moved into an Emaar building on the Greens last week and compared to my temporary accommodation in Tecom, the Aircon seems average.

At the moment it won't drive cooler than 24 or maybe 23 degrees C at best (when assisted by my devices) which is cosy. 
When asked, the Maintenance guys said that this is as good as it gets across the building - leading me to believe that they set it this way for Energy reasons.
Humidity measures at around 70% to 75% which feels uncomfortable at times.

Both of these measures are bearable but not great leading me to buy devices to help. My old place would drive down to 19/20 on demand if I wanted to cool - so what is considered normal here?

I've invested in a Dehumidifier - which I'm running all night, as well as over the weekend when I'm in the Apartment and this makes a big difference.
Part way through the night thought the unit stops, as it has collected it's maximum of 5 litres of Water - which I pour away each morning. 

I'm also running a purifier / fan all night in my bedroom to make things comfortable.
Both of which of course are going to drive up my DEWA bill.

I've had maintenance out last week, who measured 23 degrees and 64% humidity and a shrug of shoulders.

So my questions are - is this acceptable, what should be expected?
Should I expect/demand better - or is it just that it's struggling with the hottest temperatures of the year?

Beyond that - if I cannot get satisfaction is there anything / anyone / body to escalate a complaint too.

Thoughts and any other tips, like what should I set the thermostat too - as whatever I do, my Apartment sits constant at 24 degrees - i.e if I set it to 20 it stays 24 - if I set it to 10 it stays at 24.

I'd be interested to read other peoples experiences here and what other forum members think is reasonable to expect/demand.


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## strange.annie (Aug 7, 2015)

Hi, I feel your frustration, I'm managing a restaurant and that is also the same answer that is given to me, maintenance guys would simply shrug it off and say that that's the best they can do, since ac level is computed based on the general area that you have, hence they are blaming my equipments as to why temp level is not going down, so we had to buy additional fans....


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## LesFroggitts (Dec 30, 2013)

This may be related to the 'official' advice given by DEWA to have your a/c set at 78f (25.5c).

We have our a/c set at 25c and find it fairly comfortable but as you've probably not yet acclimatised to the local conditions you're probably going to suffer a bit. We often think that it's overly cool when going into shopping malls - maybe we've been out here too long.


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## bluebossa (Apr 26, 2015)

LesFroggitts said:


> This may be related to the 'official' advice given by DEWA to have your a/c set at 78f (25.5c).
> 
> We have our a/c set at 25c and find it fairly comfortable but as you've probably not yet acclimatised to the local conditions you're probably going to suffer a bit. We often think that it's overly cool when going into shopping malls - maybe we've been out here too long.


Interesting - People I talk to at work also say they can drive the temperature down to on their Apts to 20c and some sub 20c.

I think it's more a Humidity rather than Temperature thing - all the guidance I see state that you need it somewhere between 40 and 60% to be comfortable. 

Once it get's above 70% it get's clammy - I've left my units off all day and I'll see what it has reached today.


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

I lived in the Greens for years and could set the temperature down into the teens, if I wanted. I was in one of the towers by the golf course. It was always dry. 

I now live elsewhere and my A/C rarely goes below 25. 25 is perfectly comfortable for me. I actually have it set around 27ish. 

If you cannot lower the temp any more it's unlikely you're going to get any changes made on your behalf. The AC in the Greens apartments are not unique to individual apartments but part of a larger system for the entire building.


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## A.Abbass (Jun 28, 2014)

I don't believe that's acceptable, but more and more new buildings are doing the same thing.

I can drive my AC down to 20. But 1 bedroom apartments in the same building complain they cannot drive it below 23.


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## LesFroggitts (Dec 30, 2013)

bluebossa said:


> Interesting - People I talk to at work also say they can drive the temperature down to on their Apts to 20c and some sub 20c.
> 
> I think it's more a Humidity rather than Temperature thing - all the guidance I see state that you need it somewhere between 40 and 60% to be comfortable.
> 
> Once it get's above 70% it get's clammy - I've left my units off all day and I'll see what it has reached today.


Agreed, humidity is the killer out here and we're really in the worst time of year for the temperature/humidity combination. It will get better, maybe next year you'll be looking back on this and wondering what it was all about. Unfortunately sweaty conditions are the norm here.

Maybe your a/c system is only using external air to cool the apartment instead of recycling the inside air which would eventually get drier.

When we lived in Kuwait, it was always hotter but only had humid conditions for a few weeks in the year and whilst being hotter it was always preferable to Dubai/Bahrain/Qatar which are all sticky.


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## Byja (Mar 3, 2013)

I'm also in the Greens, actually the Views, and recently had the Mplus guys to service the A/C. Surprisingly, these guys actually knew very well what they were doing. So one of the things that they've checked is the temperature of the cold water used for cooling of the whole building. They've measured it to be quite high, meaning I probably couldn't cool down below 22 or 23 degrees.

Unfortunately... they've fixed this.


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## Edino (Sep 22, 2013)

bluebossa said:


> I moved into an Emaar building on the Greens last week and compared to my temporary accommodation in Tecom, the Aircon seems average.
> 
> At the moment it won't drive cooler than 24 or maybe 23 degrees C at best (when assisted by my devices) which is cosy.
> When asked, the Maintenance guys said that this is as good as it gets across the building - leading me to believe that they set it this way for Energy reasons.
> ...



Maybe its not your AC system that is the problem, it could also be that you have somehow warm and humid outside air entering the house. Do you have any ventilation fan's in the kitchen, toilet or bathroom running the whole day? They will of suck outside air inside your house trough the door and window gaps. Keep them off the largest part of the day and see if there is a difference.

Humidity in the range of 70-75% indoors is too high and very unhealthy; even 60% is to high. Mold starts to feel happy with humidity over 60% and can grow out of control. Inside the house it should be between 30 and 45%


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## Fat Bhoy Tim (Feb 28, 2013)

I usually have mine set to around 23 or so. My flat has balconies where the seals are not perfect, so it's mostly to manage humidity rather than temperature.


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## bluebossa (Apr 26, 2015)

Edino said:


> Maybe its not your AC system that is the problem, it could also be that you have somehow warm and humid outside air entering the house. Do you have any ventilation fan's in the kitchen, toilet or bathroom running the whole day? They will of suck outside air inside your house trough the door and window gaps. Keep them off the largest part of the day and see if there is a difference.
> 
> Humidity in the range of 70-75% indoors is too high and very unhealthy; even 60% is to high. Mold starts to feel happy with humidity over 60% and can grow out of control. Inside the house it should be between 30 and 45%


Thanks - I agree.
Spoke to the building owners again today and they seem adamant that it is the same in all Apartments. Circa 60+ Humidity.

I've not seen any mold and I think I'm floating at just over 60% - the accuracy of my gauge is +/- 5%. 30-40% seems very low and perhaps un-achievable in this climate have you achieved this in your house?

Most guides I've seen say 40-60% is the range with 50% being bang in the middle to aim for.


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## bluebossa (Apr 26, 2015)

TallyHo said:


> I lived in the Greens for years and could set the temperature down into the teens, if I wanted. I was in one of the towers by the golf course. It was always dry.
> 
> I now live elsewhere and my A/C rarely goes below 25. 25 is perfectly comfortable for me. I actually have it set around 27ish.
> 
> If you cannot lower the temp any more it's unlikely you're going to get any changes made on your behalf. The AC in the Greens apartments are not unique to individual apartments but part of a larger system for the entire building.


You're right, it's a centralized Building chiller.
Have you measured your Humidity?


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## bluebossa (Apr 26, 2015)

Byja said:


> I'm also in the Greens, actually the Views, and recently had the Mplus guys to service the A/C. Surprisingly, these guys actually knew very well what they were doing. So one of the things that they've checked is the temperature of the cold water used for cooling of the whole building. They've measured it to be quite high, meaning I probably couldn't cool down below 22 or 23 degrees.
> 
> Unfortunately... they've fixed this.


I'm guessing by your reply, that you have independent AC rather than Building Chiller / one AC for everyone? i.e. you can service it individually?


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## bluebossa (Apr 26, 2015)

No fans running in the Apartment all day..


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## Edino (Sep 22, 2013)

bluebossa said:


> Thanks - I agree.
> Spoke to the building owners again today and they seem adamant that it is the same in all Apartments. Circa 60+ Humidity.
> 
> I've not seen any mold and I think I'm floating at just over 60% - the accuracy of my gauge is +/- 5%. 30-40% seems very low and perhaps un-achievable in this climate have you achieved this in your house?
> ...


30-40% is perfectly achievable here with a good designed/working air-conditioning system. We have electronic hygrometers in the kitchen, living and bed room, never saw it going above 30-40%. We live in a villa with an individual central airco system.

60% is the borderline of being comfortable / and a little to high for indoor in a home (google it). It may well be that its a design issue in your apartment / building.


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## OzTak (Jul 28, 2012)

Hi - did you manage to resolve your indoor humidity issue in the greens - if so could you share more details on it - thanks


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## Chocoholic (Oct 29, 2012)

In our community, the ac units are too small for the size of the apartments, so it's pretty impossible to get them to go lower than about 23/24. However, I never have them any lower anyway - I don't know why you would. That's why people are sick all the time, going from heat to cold and not giving their bodies a chance to acclimatise.


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## OzTak (Jul 28, 2012)

it seems like the aircons are not doing a good job on dehumidifying the indoor air ...

any one has experience on how they have managed to resolve this?

thanks in advance


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## crt454 (Sep 3, 2012)

Still considered Third world AC systems, compared to the south west.


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## mmdNZ (Nov 24, 2015)

Hi,

I'm a Mech Engineer and I actually manage infrastructure / construction projects involving buildings. "Comfort Cooling" as per industry standards is generally 23C +- 3C @ 50% Relative Humidity. If you're getting below 26C or above 20C, even if you were in a western country like UK or where I am in NZ, you wouldn't stand grounds for asking them to do something about it.

Sorry!
-M


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