lots of problems here. making people sick. from the news-press:
January 11, 2009
Drywall blamed for A.C. failures
Repairers find likely culprit for number of breakdowns
By Ryan Lengerich
rlengerich@news-press.com
Air conditioning manufacturers nationwide are taking an economic hit as they repeatedly replace copper coils destroyed by the recently exposed "Chinese drywall" phenomenon, local air condition company owners said.
"I have never seen this many air conditioners fail at this age," said Fred Kobie, owner of Kobie Kooling in Fort Myers and a 25-year industry veteran. "It's almost an epidemic down here."
For about two years, scientists, engineers and vendors nationwide struggled to learn why evaporating coils in new machines in new developments have gone sour often in under a year, Kobie said.
The machines should have lifespans beyond 10 years.
Kobie said the answer became clear when The News-Press reported Dec. 20 drywall imported during the construction boom years of 2004-05 is releasing sulfur compounds that corrode coils and copper tubing.
"It's not the manufacturer doing something wrong," Kobie said. "These good machines are suffering from what is around them."
Knauf Plasterboard (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., the drywall manufacturer at the center of the controversy, said Friday tests confirm the drywall may be blackening the coils.
"The company is conducting a thorough investigation and cooperating with builders that have contacted it," Knauf wrote to The News-Press. "... The testing has confirmed that copper has blackened and may be caused by low levels of naturally occurring sulfur gas."
Isolated complaints began in 2006, Knauf said, with additional complaints coming in July. Knauf said the problem is limited to Florida.
The problem is hurting manufacturers who are shelling out new coils under warranty, Kobie said. It's hurting those manufacturers' reputations, since retailers blamed them for poor products.
Officials at local companies like Kobie or A/C By Four Seasons, Inc. in Naples, said their reputations are at hand also. Customers blame them not just for the first failure, but for the second and third coil failures in a matter of months.
Mike Dunne, A/C By Four Seasons owner, said if a coil fails under warranty, the manufacturer sends the part, but his company is stuck with about $500 in labor charges that go uncovered.
"And the customer is looking at us like, what are you doing wrong? Are you incompetent?" Dunne said.
His company sells American Standard air conditioners. That company grades his business on how many coils he replaces, and wanted to know why he kept requesting new coils.
"We have been seeing it for a couple years, that something is going on," Dunne said.
The problem appears to be from drywall imported during the construction boom years of 2004-05 building experts say. Either short drywall supply or cheaper prices drove builders to seek imported drywall.
Kobie said he attends conferences nationwide, at which industry officials have been discussing the phenomenon for about two years.
Kobie owns a home inspection company as well. He sees a day when Chinese drywall will need a disclosure, like lead paint.
Dunne agrees, calling the situation "devastating."
"It is going to be nationwide if not worldwide issue," Dunne said. "The economic loss is going to be tremendous, I couldn't even put a dollar sign on it."
Several nationwide air conditioner manufacturers could not be reached for comment.
Francis Dietz, vice president of public affairs for the Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute, a trade association representing manufacturers, said the topic has been discussed there, but he doesn't have more information than what media outlets have reported.
When peeled back, the sulfur on the Chinese drywall smells like rotten eggs. It's effects on human health are not yet verified. Knauf said low levels of gases are not a health risk.
Ken Zaltman bought his two-story townhome in Bella Terra, a Lennar development, in August, 2006. A year later, the air conditioner was spitting out warm air.
So a cooling company recharged the Freon. Until it happened again 30 days later, and then again, three months after that, when the cooling company decided to replace the air conditioning coils.
A water leak behind the wall led a cleaning company to rip out a chunk of drywall along the base of the wall. That's when the deep smell set in and led him to learn he had imported drywall.
"When they opened up the wall it smelled like rotten eggs," Zaltman said. "I got sick right afterward, we all did."
In October, Lennar ordered an investigation by Environ International Corporation's Tampa office, which determined the air would cause no health effects. In a letter to Zaltman, Lennar said repair request led the builder to determine Zaltman is not alone.
"This is how we noticed that an unusual number of our homes, including your home, had experienced problems with their HVAC systems," wrote Darin McMurray, Lennar's division president in Southwest Florida.
Zaltman said he will hire a firm for an independent test.
"I'm worried," Zaltman said. "I'm concerned about the health of my family."
Mike Schad, owner of Rite Temp Air Conditioning in Fort Myers, doesn't handle much work in new developments. Yet more calls are coming from homeowners asking him to fix coils, because other companies did it once already.
Now those calls make more sense. His friends in the industry finally have an answer.
"A lot of guys are complaining about it, now that it is coming out what they are looking at, it has been a relief to some of the guys," Schad said, "because they are not going to be blamed as much." |
