Punggol household goes overseas & leaves air-con on for 6 days, condensation forms on units beside, above & below

A household in Punggol reportedly went on holiday, but forgot to turn off the air-conditioning at home, resulting in condensation forming on the walls, floors, and ceilings of neighbours living beside, above, and below the unit.

No one from the residence could be contacted for a few days and the condensation issue lasted close to a week.

The unit that left the air-conditioning running was a public housing flat on the 12th storey at Block 102A Punggol Field, Shin Min Daily News reported.

Damp and even wet

Occupants of units surrounding them realised something was amiss when their walls, floors, and ceilings were constantly damp or even wet.

On Apr. 18, the 13th floor resident, who lives directly above the 12th floor unit, went down to check on the household that was causing the dampness issues.

He wanted to find out why his floor at home was constantly wet.

This was also when another neighbour, surnamed Zhang, living next to the 12th floor unit, realised that his home was likely also affected as he was just next door.

Neighbour left 3 days ago

Zhang then checked his home surveillance footage and saw that his neighbour next door had left home with four suitcases on Apr. 15.

It was then that he realised they could have gone overseas for a holiday.

Wall wet

Realising that it had been a few days since they left and the air-conditioning in their home was running non-stop, Zhang checked on the walls of his guest room that separates his residence from his neighbour's unit.

He was shocked to see that the entire wall was covered with water droplets and part of it had apparently grown mouldy due to the moisture.

Bubbles had formed on parts of the wall and the paintwork had peeled off, he said.

The wall was just painted five years ago, he added.

He and his wife then spent the day moving furniture from the room to the living room to prevent any damage to them.

As a preventive measure, he had to wipe the walls down twice a day.

But he was worried about damages to his walls and floor, as well as whether the dampness will cause the power sockets to experience short circuits.

Zhang also placed several pieces of cloth in the room to soak up the condensation droplets.

The cloths will absorb the moisture and become wet enough to have to be squeezed dry.

11th floor unit also affected

Zhang said the ceiling of the unit directly below the 12th floor unit also had water droplets forming.

The 11th floor unit's ceiling was wet.

13th floor unit experienced constantly wet floor

However, it was the unit on the 13th floor that was bearing the brunt of it as the floor of the home was constantly wet.

The 13th floor resident, surnamed Qiu, told Shin Min that the domestic worker at home initially said her room had already felt cold on Apr. 17.

The home owner said she did not take it seriously at first, until the domestic worker started mopping the floor frequently as water was accumulating on it.

As her husband happened to be a air-con repairman, he concluded that the neighbour on the 12th floor had left their air-conditioning running non-stop.

His attempt at knocking on the door of the 12th floor unit yielded no response.

Opened windows

Qiu and her husband left the windows in their own home open and turned on the fans to ventilate the place.

One solution to the problem was to cut off the power supply to the 12th floor unit, but Qiu's husband opined that it was illegal to do so.

He said: "We can't do this rashly. But if this continues, even the tiles will fall off if it gets serious."

Qiu and Zhang said they were unsure when their neighbour would return home, but they would negotiate a compensation for damages sustained.

Zhang, who lives next door to the unit involved, said about his neighbours: "They just moved in during Chinese New Year this year. We are not familiar with each other, and we don't have their contact information, so we can't contact them at all. Their negligence has affected three neighbours."

HDB contacted occupants of household

As of Apr. 21, the issue has been resolved, according to the Housing and Development Board (HDB), which first received feedback on the condensation issue on Apr. 18.

HDB said in response to media queries that the condensation was caused by the air-conditioning of the neighbouring unit, which was left running since the flat occupants went overseas on Apr. 15.

HDB added: "Our multiple attempts to reach the flat owner via phone calls, text messages and e-mails since Apr. 19 were unsuccessful."

HDB managed to contact him only on the morning of Apr. 21, and a family member helped to switch off the air-conditioner.

All photos via Shin Min Daily News