Hot Weather Has New Yorkers Cranking Up The AC, But Are They Properly Installed?
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- This week's hot weather had New Yorkers cranking up the air conditioning. It also raises the question; is your window unit properly installed?
As CBS2's Vanessa Murdock reported, falling air conditioners have been a problem around the city.
While walking down the street you might look up and wonder; is that AC really securing? Might it come crashing down at exactly the wrong time?
"Yeah I do, especially when I hear the drops when walking. Thankfully it never happened," one man said.
It can happen, and it does.
It happened on Wednesday.
1010 WINS reporter Sonia Rincon told CBS2 that while walking on West 48th Street in Hell's Kitchen with her mother. She didn't think much of it because the city is always making noise.
"We heard and felt a crash behind us," she said.
She turned and saw an air conditioner that was busted up after slamming into the sidewalk -- it missed slamming into them by only inches.
"We of course looked up to find out which window it was," she said.
The unit fell from the third floor. It's a situation Gringer and Sons manage Robert Hein said he hears about at least once a year.
"When people want them, they don't understand the process of what it takes to get an AC, especially installing it in windows," Hein said.
"You're talking about a 40-50lbs object. You're holding it with two hands, you don't have much space to work," he said.
"The major issue we run into is when the building manager allows you to put in an AC and it's not properly installed, they have a liability," NYC Dep of Buildings Deputy Commissioner of Enforcement Timothy Hogan said.
He recalled tow incidents from last year.
"In Harlem, window unit dropped two stories, and hit the super, and the year before that one dropped 30 stories," he said.
Last summer the NYPD tweeted a picture showing a unit hanging by a power chord.
The fine for having an AC fall is anywhere from $1,000 to $2,500.
The tenant may also be liable if someone below gets hurt. The mounting brackets sold with air conditioners must be permanently attached to the building.