What are the reasons all the ACs get turned off every time someone leaves? I see this as a problem, especially since I have a disability that effects my temperature regulation and reaction to temperature swings. I’m sure this has been debated but i’m new, so sorry if I open old wounds. I am asking in ernest and not trying to stir the pot.
When people come in on the super hot days the ACs have to run full out just to overcome the heat that’s built up, if they can. The AC loudly runs full bore, spitting out ice cold air, until the member is done, still having been uncomfortable the entire time. It isn’t good for the AC or the member. It’s better for the AC for it to cool down a room that’s been kept at a warm but reasonable temp. I came in at 7 am today because I knew I didn’t have the time to let the room cool down before I could use it. The other day I came an hour early so hopefully one of the classrooms could be a comfortable temperature, but it took like 2 more hours.There’s also the computers and such that don’t do well in the heat, and must and mildew that can grow on their hot humid days. I can tell by the smell that it is a problem in some rooms.
So, the brass tacks of it is the building itself is a very nice cold war era brick oven and the orginization can’t feasibly get a cooling system beefy enough to cool the building comfortably until other financial ducks get filed in a row.
Kansas summers are brutal and ive spent my share of time over a molten bit of silver with not but box fans moving the air so i at least cook evenly, but currently it comes down to cash. To cool the spaces down to comfertable-ish (20 below outside ambient is about the best we can hope for with the veried units we have) would mean running all units full bore 24/7. That jumps the electric bill, and doesn’t make sense if we’re cooling a shop thats not being currently occupied but may be or may not. During my dark reign the board looked at options to cool the whole space consistently and comfortably but all the options were priced out of range for where we were in the books. Also didn’t help that we also got the units we had at the time vandalized and had to spring for replacements for those.
Think I’ve rambled enough but hopefully this helps with your request for tea. Normally i like my earl grey hot but right now iced is better.
I really don’t think whole building ac is the answer for this space anyway. Specifically because only parts of the building are usually occupied, so only parts of the building need to be comfortable at any given time.
I didn’t mean to imply the spaces should be comfortable. I’m not sure what the spaces get up to but I was thinking more like 85. And maybe they don’t even get that hot. But when the rooms are comfortable overnight, a decent ac, which thankfully it seems like the majority are at this point, wouldn’t be running all the time to keep a room not sweltering.
So maybe the answer is that people are way more likely to turn off a unit then to change its temp. But maybe the idea should be considered again now that more of the acs are newer. Or maybe only the rooms I typically use have newer ones, I’m not sure. Which is why I’m asking.
Again, thank you for giving me the backstory. I have done a lot with volunteer orgs and I know how tiresome it can be to explain to new people why their new (old) ideas won’t work.
Basically, the units would run constantly if left on consuming large amounts of energy to cool empty rooms.
The window units are undersized for the rooms but the electrical infrastructure is not present (220 V outlets) to put in AC units large enough to handle the heat loads in each room.
If you’re not already doing so, please turn on the ceiling fans when you turn on the window unit AC. The combination will help to cool the room down faster.
It’ll be interesting to see when we get some automation stuff going but I’m thinking if we make it smart enough it can condition rooms a couple hours before classes are scheduled at least.
I don’t love the heat either but it seems like this conversation goes dormant about every October lol.
With the heaters we don’t turn a lot of them off, we just turn them down to 65 when we leave. Maybe we could do something like that with the AC units? Especially in the spaces that have frequent daily users - fab lab, woodshop, textiles?
Thank you for the information regarding the power requirements across the whole building. I can see how that is a true deciding factor.
I was in the fablab in the morning and considered leaving the ac on for my class in the evening, but that ac doesn’t have an eco mode, so it would have been running the entire time. That’s definitely not ok. So it’s obviously a room by room/case by case basis. I would like to try leaving one on overnight, or through the afternoon, in a room that has a newer ac with econ mode. So, certainly not leaving them all on, but at least testing it in a space that needs to be used in the evening.
Thank you all for humoring the newbie with the grand ideas that have been tested and rejected. Sometimes things change after a decision has been made and implemented, so someone bringing the question back up can force the reevaluation needed to improve. I appreciate everything you all have done, and continue to do, to keep MakeICT running for all of us.
I will say on the days i knew i was having a class I’d turn the AC on well ahead of the class (hour and a half if i could) and left a note on the unit as to why. I think thats an acceptable exception.
I am with Mike. In the summer, if you can come in early and start the air con. You could hang in the break room (which is usually the coolest room :). I think there is a chair or two and a table in there… if not, we could find a small one to locate there.
They cost Soo much money I would say that most like one the top two reasons. And that many going as well as the lack of size AC to accommodate the rooms is a problem and more expensive. I know I had one yet didn’t fit my house space one and it ended up breaking badly because it was working 24-7
I agree the electrical has to accommodate or there is risk. There is one in a classroom that is plugged into a nother plug that is really hot so we need to defineitl consider safety as they obviously have in their decisions.
Not voting against you by any means asrah becuase the heat going in and my heat intolerance disease is same I get so sick so easily and humidity to ives me migrainea
Asrah brings up a reeeeeally good point about the computers as well as he mold mildew .
That is what I said it was concerning. I think asrah said it was a smart plug ( it was a white block)then the smart plug was plug into a yellow extension cord and continued going
oh sorry forgot to say it was in a classroom either 3 or the one across from it i think i know it was when i was working on my class ans i wa testing wether i wanted #3 or the other one with the carpet across from it
So I believe one important aspect that asrah meant by maybe didn’t clarify is leaving them on during day when first person came to the last person leaving …not necessarily over night if I’m not mistaken
Huh? Last person leaving? When is that? If I leave at 15:00, am I the last person? What if somebody else comes in at 17:00? What if I leave it on and nobody else comes in later?
So based on the conversation here thus far I feel like having an exception when events are specifically going to be happening later is the best resolution for my concerns at this time. I do still wonder if leaving the better acs set to a fairly high temp on econ might be more economic, but that’s not necessary.
I did forget that I noticed the smart plug in classroom 3 gets really hot. I doubt it’s rated for the pull off the AC.
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