Fresno Municipal Code Art. 6 Heat Transfer Systems Utilizing Water

The following words and phrases as used in this article, unless a different meaning is clearly required by the context, shall have the following meanings:

(1) "System" shall mean any equipment, apparatus, contrivance, or device, or any combination thereof, whereby water is used wholly or in part to add heat to or remove heat from a gas, a liquid, a product, or a machine, and shall include air conditioning and refrigeration systems.

(2) "Drainage well" shall have the meaning designated by Section 6-401 of this Code.

(3) "Evaporative cooler" shall mean any device whereby air is directly cooled by the evaporation of water.

(4) "Premises" shall mean a tract of real estate, including adjoining lots or parcels under the same ownership or control and the improvements thereon, which is determined by the Controller to be a single unit for purposes of receiving, using, and paying for service.

(5) "Water conservation device" shall mean an evaporative condenser, water cooling tower, or similar apparatus by which any fluid or gas, used in any system for heat transfer, is cooled by recirculated water, and which does not consume water in an amount in excess of 0.15 gallons per minute per ton of capacity, and as to an evaporative cooler, it shall mean a water recirculating device.

(6) "Ton of capacity" shall mean cooling capacity for the computation of which the following relationships shall be deemed correct: one ton per hour which equals one horsepower which equals 12,000 B. T. U.'s per hour.

(7) "Water Division" shall mean the Water Division of the Department of Public Works of the city.

(8) "City water" shall mean water furnished by the Water Division.

(9) "Director" shall mean the Director of Public Works of the city. (Added Ord. 4890, 1956; Rep. and Added Ord. 6436, 1964; Am. Ord. 70-3, 1970).

No person shall install or replace any system which requires a supply of city water without having first obtained a permit from the Department of Planning and Inspection of the city. (Added Ord. 4890, 1964; Rep. and Added Ord. 6436, 1964).

(a) No person shall install or replace any system including portable systems on any premises, unless such system is equipped with a water conservation device, and such device is properly maintained at all times, except as follows:

(1) In a multi-story building, unconserved water-cooled refrigeration units used only for the commercial preservation of food may be installed, replaced or maintained provided that such unit has a capacity of less than one ton and that all such units on any one premises do not exceed a cumulative total capacity of two tons and do not consume more than 1.5 gallons of water per minute per ton of capacity per unit.

(2) Evaporative coolers may be installed, replaced, or maintained provided that no evaporative cooler or coolers on any premises shall have a cumulative total capacity of more than eighteen hundred cubic feet of air per minute.

(3) A system may be installed, replaced or maintained provided it is not connected to city water, and a source of water supply is developed on the same premises for the exclusive use of such system, and a drainage well, drilled pursuant to and in conformance with Article 4 (commencing with Section 6-401), Chapter 6, of this Code, is used as the sole means of disposing of water discharged from such system.

(b) When a system is installed or maintained on any premises contrary to the provisions of this article, no city water service shall be granted to serve said premises, whether located in or out of the city limits.

(c) No person shall sell or deliver any evaporative cooler designed to deliver more than eighteen hundred cubic feet of air per minute which he knows or has reason to know is intended to use city water unless such cooler is, when sold and delivered, equipped with a water conservation device. (Added Ord. 4890, 1956; Am. Ord. 5309, 1958; Rep. and Added Ord. 6436, 1964).

Any system using city water shall conform to all other applicable sections of this Code. (Added Ord. 4890, 1956; Rep. and Added Ord. 6436, 1964; based on former Sec. 14-205).

(a) Whenever the Director shall find that because of illegal or improper installation, alteration, improper operations, or lack of maintenance, any system connected to city water will, when operated, cause use of city water in excess of 0.15 gallons per minute per ton of capacity for systems with conservation devices, or 1.5 gallons per minute per ton of capacity for systems described in subsection (a) (1) of Section 6-603, or will cause waste water therefrom to be discharged in violation of any provision of this Code, the Director shall give notice in writing to correct the deficiency. The notice shall identify the system and specify the correction or corrections required, and shall contain a statement that if the deficiency is not corrected or the system disconnected from city water within fifteen days from the date of service of such notice, the Director will order that city water service to the premises on which such system is located be discontinued forthwith. The notice shall be directed to and served upon the person in whose name water service to the premises is then being furnished, as shown by the accounting records of the city, or, if such service is in the names of more than one person, to either or any of such persons. A copy of such notice shall also be served upon each person having possession as tenant or otherwise, of all or any part of the premises and who receives city water service by the same service connection which supplies the system described in the notice.

(b) If, upon the expiration of fifteen days from the date of service of the notice, the system has not been corrected as specified in the notice or disconnected from city water, the Director shall order the city water service to the premises on which such system is maintained to be discontinued; provided, that the Director may for good cause extend the time for making any required correction for not to exceed an additional thirty days.

(c) No premises which have been disconnected from city water service by order of the Director pursuant to subsection (b) hereof shall be reconnected until the system has been corrected as specified in the notice or disconnected from city water, and until all reconnection charges required by this chapter have been paid. (Added Ord. 4890, 1956; Rep. and Added Ord. 6436, 1964; Based on former Sec. 14-208).