How well does the AC work?

I have a 1BR built in 1964 with convector units in the living room and bedroom. The living room unit alone in the medium setting is powerful enough to keep the apartment cool during the hottest days of summer.

I'm in a 1962 1BR, north-facing, with relatively new units in the LR and BR. It's easy to keep the apartment quite cool all the time (at least when they have the chiller running -- there's always that week or two when it warms up and they're still providing heat...)

I have a friend who lives on the the top floor of a 1960 building -- a large south-facing apartment with a fair amount of windows, and a not well insulated space between him and the roof -- when he renovated, he replaced the LR and DR units with larger ones, as the originals were barely able to keep the place cool (old fans, clogged pipes). They are not expensive to replace.

Aaron, Happy new year!! Curious if there is venting hole the wall as in Stewart House, the units are likely to have a condenser in the apartment rather than central cold water.

Happy new year!

There is a little grill thingy on the living room unit, but it's very small - maybe 2" h x 8" w. Much smaller than what you see on Stewart House, and I've never felt air (warm or cold) coming out of it (I can access it via my balcony). I'd have to look and see if there's one on the bedroom unit (I'm not there at the moment). My units don't have a condenser -- just a fan to blow fair over the finned pipes. which are plumbed directly into the building hot/cold water circulators. If you look at an exterior view of Imperial House (150 E 69th), you'll see similar little grills, and I know they've got the same setup I have.

I had these when I lived on 56th - bedroom unit was ice cold, but living room unit could not keep up. Bleeding it helped some - it seems like there was some air pocket that formed somewhere and inhibited cooling. There wasn't much the building could do - so, it was cool in the bedroom and cool-ish in the living room. Not sure if it was the same in other units, but I supplemented the living room with a window AC.