Ok Mgmt, Tell me if I am Right,
The reasoning behind the outrageous gas bills primarily occurr in the lower level apartments. Who ever constructed them were trying to save money on double duct. The heating ducts are located in the ceilings, not the grounds. Problem with that is heat rises, so the second heat drops out of the ducts it goes right back up and the people in the lower levels pay average $200 gas bills to heat the upper apartments. We have friends that live in the middle and upper levels that gas bills range from 40 to 80 a month. Rent increases a little bit if you select an upper or middle apartment. By all means if you pick an apartment, make sure someone lives below you so that they pay to heat you. I called the office about this and they planned not to improve the heating situation. We even used a space heater during the winter months. If we didnt, our gas bills would be past $300. I have been at that range to. That is heating the apartment at 66 degrees, still cold. If rent was what it was when we moved in , it wouldnt be so bad, now Carriage institutes a 10% increase of rent per year. Believe me the complaints listed are true, mgmt does a good job of working around them and bs-ing you guys. We plan to move soon, Greenbriar apartments up the street are similiar in rent, includes gas, and not overran by a foreign population. Carriage park is doing a great job and making money, the increases they are imposing upon the people. I would have lived hear for 20 years, but not with the ridiculous rent increase. By the way, You have to pay to swim and use the gym, it is not including. The ceiling and walls are thin, you can hear everyone around you. Some of the families are overcrowding the apartments. family of 4 in a one bedroom apartment above us is annoying.

Manager's Response
From: Manager	Date: 08/05/2006
The gas meter is electric and measures time only. When the thermostat calls for heat the gas valve opens and the gas meter is energized. The gas valve is either open or closed. The gas meter measures time and measures 1/10 for every 6 minutes of use. When the thermostat is satisfied the gas valve closes and the meter stops. When the meter is read for the current period the previous reading is deducted from that number which gives the usage, in time. That usage is given to the company that generates the gas bills. That company has a listing of the various furnace sizes installed in every unit. The furnace size is measured in BTUs which indicates how much gas would be consumed in a given period of time. To compute gas usage in therms for a particular apartment/townhome the steps that are taken are as follows: Usage (in time) X Furnace Size in BTUs = CCFs (100 cu feet of gas OR 1 therm) Example: Current reading 34741.9 Previous reading -34663 Usage 78.9 (time) 78.9 (minutes) X .5 (CCFs used per minute on a 50,000 BTU furnace) = 39.45 CCFs (therms) 39.45 therms X $1.63493 (gas rate paid for that period) = $64.73 gas billed The gas bill you receive only refects the time the gas valve was open and the rate charged for that period. It does not show the computation for the size of the furnace.

User Responses
From: chubby123	Date: 08/06/2006
OK MGMT, You posted a ton of information and bla bla that neglects what I typed. That is a great and overwhelming explanation of how a gas bill is measured. Simple explanation, apartment needs heat, temperature goes below designated heat, furnace runs. (Only, heating ducts are in the cealing and providing no real heat to the apartment, so it keeps running and running like an energizer bunny.) Amount furnace runs multiplied by expense equals costs. DID YOU ARGUE AGAINST HEAT VENTILATION BUILT IN CEILING. NO YOU DID NOT, YOUR RESPONSE PROVIDED NOTHING BUT GIBBERISH TO THE GENERAL POPULATION. As a true response, please drop the rent to the lower level tenants to provide a fair market value to them. Your response only showed how much of a con artist you are. I will blast the entire internet with information to keep as many people out of this apartment complex as possible unless you actually conduct business in an appropriate manner instead of a money absorbing corporation. Easy equation for you figure out as a response to your gibberish above, 7 tenants contact eight media dispersions equals thousands of readers plus the number of word of mouth responses and so on. Pathetic response from a poorly educated mgmt representative.
From: unanon88	Date: 08/09/2006
After reading some of these threads here, and if management responded to your question about how the heating bill is calculated by your simple answer of apartment needs heat, temperature goes below designated heat, furnace runs." you idiots would have responded "Really, you mean the furnace turns on when its cold in the apartment." The fact is how different building have been constructed over the years, how they built this place was the standard for its time. Each year there are different codes and newer ways of constructing buildings. Just because something worked 20 years ago and may not be the way to do things now. You just cant go and tear the building down and start over. If your not happy about where you live, go somewhere else. There are plenty of apartment building here in pittsburgh. If your not happy with an older building, go to one of the newer built apartments and pay 3 times as much as your paying now. To me it seems plenty of people are happy where they live. You just can't please everybody all the time.

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