Problem Based Learning Case Study - The Noisy Air Conditioner

ThomasJG Problem Based Learning Case Study

EDUC 6309 – Interactive Design for the Classroom

This is an email I left for the manager of the condominiums where I live:

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My neighbors rent their place.  I spoke to them before they moved in about how noisy the old air conditioner for their unit is and how bad the screens on the windows are.  They said the owner would get things fixed up for them.  He never did.

The air conditioner unit is VERY loud. What makes it so bad, I believe, is that they have to run the thing ALL the time because they can't leave the windows open, because the screens are so bad they don't keep bugs out.  Of the two screens on the front window, one has a bent frame and a big hole in it. The bedroom window on the side has screens that are not too bad, but the big bathroom next to it is missing the screen altogether.  The little bathroom next to that has a screen that's poked out and bent also.  The screens on the bedroom around back are bent and the patio door must be kept closed all the time because it has holes in it, too.

None of this would be any of my business except for 2 things:

- In Hamilton, we have carpenter ants the size of English school children that are constantly trying to gain a nesting place indoors.  I know about them because we lived in a house that had to be drilled of frame and fumigated, or else the ants would have destroyed the structural beams.  I don't like to have the poison sprayed around where I have to walk and breathe. It's a known carcinogen.  Yet this owner carelessly leaves the unit and our entire building open to these ants.

- It's hard to sleep at night with all the noise from the air conditioner.  It sounds like a big truck with its engine racing.  I believe the tenants leave that loud air conditioner unit on all the time, even when it's 70° outside at night, because the security against big and little intruders is compromised without the windows closed and locked.

Any chance of getting him to put a new A.C. unit in and getting the screens fixed up?  Do I sound annoyed?  Mr. DiLissio never did anything about it when he was manager.  This matter has been a thorn in my side since I moved in here 2 years ago.

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This problem is really bugging me.  The new manager seems as lax as the old one.  What should I do?

- Wait and see?

- Put up big ugly signs all over the place?

- Contact the historically lax township Inspections Office and file a complaint?

- Resort to sabotage (hammer and chisel? sand? steel rods? some kind of air conditioner hit man?)