The air conditioner in the Lounge is cleaned and ready for installation once window gap fillers can be made for it. 12+ hours of work saved us about $600 on buying a new machine.
It has to go in the furthest right window (by TV) which has access to the only outlet in the room strong enough to power it.
I removed the accordian flaps on the sides that are meant to fill the space between the machine and the window frame because they are irreparable, but left the frames for them in case they can be repurposed. I noticed that most of the AC units in the building have custom attachments to fill that space, which look much sturdier than what the machine came with. Iād like something like that to be added on. They seem to have been made with equipment I donāt have authorization to use so Iād either need lessons or for someone else to just do it for me.
Some of the fistfuls of dirt removed from the machine.
Half cleaned for comparison. The interior is supposed to be black and white, not yellow! Who knew?
Quick reminder, this has been ready for almost a week with no word as to when it can be installed. The roomās fans are also still broken. The lounge is borderline unusable already and thereās a heat wave coming up, Iād like these things to be set up and fixed ASAP.
I missed the facilities meeting where this was discussed because I was at class. Using classroom 4ās AC to cool the lounge is a waste of money and energy, especially when classroom 4 isnāt in use, that isnāt sufficient to cool the lounge. Classroom 4ās AC struggles to keep its own room cool: after being set at 70ā¢ for almost 2 hours, the temperature in there is still 74ā¢. In the lounge itās 81ā¢.
Many people who use the lounge have disabilities and/or medication side effects that impair our ability to handle high temperatures; this is a health and safety issue as well as a budgetary concern.
Was this discussed with facilities beforehand?
I talk to them at every chance and also post regularly on the forum about it, to the point that Iāve been told some on the facilities committee find me annoying. I told LaDeana about it yesterday and she apparently attended the meeting, where she would have told them. She said they did discuss the lounge cooling at todayās meeting, and even held the meeting in the lounge to prove that they could tolerate the heat, but decided that installing the AC would be too much work. Which I really wish any of them had told me at some point before I spent 12 hours cleaning that machine with a toothbrush to get it ready to use. No update on the broken fans.
If someone is willing to make the custom box Iām willing to help install it in the window. Not part of facilities or anything but more than willing to help out. Iāve been on those medications that mess with your heat tolerance and it makes it so much more likely for you to pass out in high temps.
It may not just be the mechanical part. For example, I donāt know who determined that the chosen receptacle is sufficient or appropriate.
I understand. Please let me know if there is some way I can help.
Rustin personally showed me the machine from storage and offered it for me to use, which Iāve mentioned in a previous thread. He later told me the power limits of the outlet in the lounge and confirmed that the power demands listed on the machine are appropriate, which I said in the first post in this thread. I tested it and it works.
Okay,
So Facilities did meet yesterday to discuss this and I was sitting down to write up our meeting notes but I think it best to just reply here.
I have been out of town for the last two weeks and so unable to meet before this.
I can say with confidence that no one on our team has referred to you as annoying, whoever fed you that information is wrong. LaDeana was not at the meeting but we did have a conversation about the AC with her afterwards in the event that she might run into you first, which apparently she did.
- We ran the central AC in Classroom 4 which also feeds the lounge. We held our meeting in the Lounge to judge whether the AC worked and how long it took to cool the room. We did not do it to prove āwe could tolerate the heatā. It took between 30 and 45 minutes to cool the lounge down on a day that was clocked at 107 degrees. I did not bring a psychrometer to measure the temperature but personally judged it to be comfortable, which I suppose puts us at odds with your statement, āClassroom 4ās AC struggles to keep its own room cool: after being set at 70ā¢ for almost 2 hours, the temperature in there is still 74ā¢. In the lounge itās 81ā¢.ā Class Room 4 has 3 units, 2 PTAC units in the wall and a central unit with a thermostat on the East wall next to the South door. We ran the central unit by setting the thermostat to COOL and AUTO and 6 degrees below the ambient. The unit blows cold air from the wall mounted vents. There are some efficiencies that we can find to make the process faster and we will do them at our next meeting. We feel that this is the most economical choice because it does not require us to modify a window, build a cage, or plug an energy hog into old wiring. These are of course all things that have been done in other rooms but only because there was no other alternative. I am sorry that you had to spend an excessive amount of time cleaning a window unit.
- The fan is not broken, in the sense that it does not operate or its operation is dangerous, but it does have a noticeable and frequent tick that we did hear last night after we ran it for an extended amount of time. Our recommendation at this time is to replace the fan with a new unit. We can replace the fans with the same models we used in Metal Shop if the Board approves the expenditure. My next opportunity to ask @Directors for funding is at the Open Board Workshop and their next opportunity to fund it is the August Board meeting unless they will meet earlier to do so. I will send them a message today asking for them to approve the expenditure, though Iāve also copied them on this message. We can also disable the fan in the meantime if that is your preference.
