AT&T Center air conditioning finally working

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SAN ANTONIO — The huge cooling units outside the AT&T Center finally are humming with life.

But the San Antonio Spurs have yet to respond to questions about why the units stopped running in the first place.

The Spurs issued a statement during Thursday's humid, cramp-inducing game that pinned the blame on an electrical problem. Friday morning the Spurs announced the problem — whatever it was — had been fixed.

“The electrical failure that caused the AC system outage during Game 1 of the NBA Finals has been repaired,” Spurs spokesman Carlos Manzanillo said in a written statement released Friday morning

“The AC system has been tested, is fully operational and will continue to be monitored,” Manzanillo continued.

“The upcoming events at the AT&T Center, including the Romeo Santos concert tonight, the Stars game on Saturday night and Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday, will go on as scheduled. We apologize for the conditions in the arena during last night's game.”

Miami Heat's LeBron James (06) goes up for a shot against Spurs' Boris Diaw (33) in the second half of Game 1 of the 2014 NBA Finals at the AT&T Center on Thursday, June 5, 2014. Spurs defeat the Heat, 110-95. (Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News) less Miami Heat's LeBron James (06) goes up for a shot against Spurs' Boris Diaw (33) in the second half of Game 1 of the 2014 NBA Finals at the AT&T Center on Thursday, June 5, 2014. Spurs defeat the Heat, 110-95. ... more Photo: Kin Man Hui, San Antonio Express-News Photo: Kin Man Hui, San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 165 Caption Close AT&T Center air conditioning finally working 1 / 165 Back to Gallery

Manzanillo and Bobby Perez, vice president of corporate communications for Spurs Sports & Entertainment, did not return phone messages.

Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said he spoke to Perez Friday morning and was told “there was a circuit breaker failure of some sort.”

“They tried to get it fixed last night, but couldn't get enough power because of whatever happened to that breaker,” said Wolff, who attended the game and insisted that complaints about the hot conditions inside the AT&T Center were overstated.

“I was there, and I wasn't all that hot,” Wolff added. “According to what I have been told by our people, our temperature dial showed 78 degrees, not 90. It may have been just a little uncomfortable for some folks, but it didn't bother me or anybody in the suite we were in.”

CPS Energy, the San Antonio utility that has workers on duty at all Spurs games, did not immediately respond to questions Friday.

Laura Jesse, a spokeswoman for Bexar County, which owns the AT&T Center, referred questions to the Spurs' management company that is responsible for operating and maintaining the arena.

Outside the center, a sweaty Charles Cameron emerged from the AT&T Center after working all night removing the basketball court and preparing the arena floor for a concert.

Cameron said the crew started working in sweltering heat inside the center around midnight and noticed the air began circulating around 5 a.m.

“It's still hot,” Cameron said. “I'd say it's just as bad.”

The monster cooling units, known as chillers, are located on the north side of the center. They cool water that is piped throughout the arena, cools the air, and is piped back to the chillers in a closed-loop system.

The chillers were running Friday morning and air was swirling inside the Spurs' fan shop on the other side of the arena.

“It's cooling an incredible amount of space,” said Benjamin Hubbert, president of Champion AC, an official Spurs sponsor.

The company doesn't do any work on the air conditioning at the AT&T Center. But Hubbert said the company dealt with angry fans who assumed that Champion AC was responsible.

“We've been getting punished,” Hubbert said. “It's crazy. We got harassed all night all over social media.”

jtedesco@express-news.net