What is the small piece of pipe in the ceiling above my tub in my apartment? It is dripping cold water. Why?

Question

It is just a small piece of pipe sticking about 1 inch out of the ceiling. It has been in all of my apartments. It just started leaking cold water. What is the purpose of this pipe? Why is it leaking and how do i make it stop. And yes I know, i could just ask my landlord, but i like to fix things myself.

Answer 1

 Yes. It's for the air conditioning system. It usually indicates a major problem. That happened to an apartment I was living in and when they pulled off the air conditioner cover panel, a waterfall of water came down. It was so bad, they had to knock out the wall and replace the whole system. Luckily, I was moving a week before it happened so they waited to start the repair until I was gone. The air conditioner will usually still run when this happens, just not be very effective. If it's hot out, it will hardly keep the place cool anymore until it's repaired.