OUCooling, also known as Chilled Water Services, consists of the production and distribution of chilled water between 39ºF and 42ºF for air conditioning applications. The chilled water is generated at centralized energy plants and delivered through an underground piping system to a wide variety of subscribed customers, including residential, commercial, institutional and industrial facilities. Services are offered to prospective customers as an alternative to other air conditioning options they may be considering. Typically, OUCooling services require a contractual commitment of twenty years.

All buildings are air-conditioned by chilled water coils. Warm air blown over these coils, cooling the air as it passes through. With OUCooling, all the equipment used to cool the water (cooling tower, pump and chiller equipment) is housed in one central facility. At the facility, water is cooled to 39ºF and piped to participating buildings to cool them. The water is then recycled to its central facility to be cooled again before repeating the cycle. Currently, OUC operates two chilled water plants that serve Parramore and downtown Orlando partners. Underground “loops” run from each facility to buildings partnered with OUCooling.

OUCooling replaces the traditional outside air conditioning unit for residential customers. Each residential customer still has an air handler on the inside of their unit, which is not an OUC piece of equipment, it is owned by the building. Next to the air handler, likely inside the same closet, there is an OUC meter that measures the amount of chilled water used to cool the home. If the resident turns off their thermostat and notices the meter continuing to move, then there is possibly a defective valve inside the pipe which is supposed to close when the air conditioner is not in use. Contact OUC and we will work closely with building management to ensure the problem is repaired.