"Plan B" HVAC |
Heat and Humidity are the Mother of Invention |
| While it is mid January and everyone is complaining about high utility bills, I thought I'd take a step back to this past summer and remind everyone about that thing they fought so hard to keep outside all summer, but would gladly welcome inside this winter - the heat. | ||||||||||
the problem
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| the solution |
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When I was deciding to write this bit, it was a real struggle to decide whether or not this particular item belonged in the incredible creations or engineering marvels section of this site. The combination of hardware and imagination used makes the device created a suitable candidate for either. However, due to the temporary nature of the device in this instance, we figured it would fit in the "marvels" area a bit little better. (that means we flipped a coin to decide) |
With that out of the way, cast your mind for a moment... It is the front end of a Memphis summer when the Korean War era AC unit at staff member William's house finally decides to mail it in. With parts more scarce that those found on a 1957 Ferrari SuperAmerica, it was time to make a desision. Either replace the entire HVAC system, or torch the place and make an insurance claim. |
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| Being the honorable type, as well as the type that never gets away with anything, William decided to bite the bullet and "invest" in a new system. So over the next week he entertained several proposals from various vendors before selecting the model and design he wanted. One problem, after a week of entertaining proposals without the comforts of AC, it would be another week to 10 days before the new system would be up and running. With the inside temp of Williams den cresting 85 every evening, a short term solution was in order before he lost all ability to make rational decision. |
| Once alerted to the problem, I immediately offered up my arsenal of window units purchased during the aftermath of Hurricane Elvis. However, seeing how NONE of Williams windows open, they really didn't fit the need at hand. It wasn't until several days later that I stumbled onto a potential solution - portables. |
| Now usually when somebody comes up with a solution to a problem as big as this there is great jubilation. But in this case, what I had to offer was only a partial solution that opened itself up to a medely of other problems that even if sorted out, might not yield any measurable results. Take that and add in 6 days without any sleep at night, and you have a pretty grumpy friend on your hands. So it was in the face of these odds that I called William up and proclaimed that "Help is on the WAY" without disclosing all "up in the air" the details. |  |
| Now portable units differ from window units in two ways. One, they are more portable (duhh). Caster wheels on the bottom allow them to be rolled into place with ease. Next, they exhaust out a tube rather than from the coils on the back of the unit. This allows the power of the portable to be placed exactly where you need it most while the hot exhaust is routed elsewhere. |
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If you have ever seen one of these things in action, it was most likely being heavly guarded by a band of operations and IT geeks in a computer room of an office building. So when in search of such a unit, that is exactly where I went first... the back back back closet of VS. (I know a guy with an all access pass) Seeing how they have a generator with a muffler the size of a surburban on it at their new facility, I didn't think they would miss them anytime soon and loaded a pair into my truck. |
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| Twenty minutes later, there was cool air blowing in William's bedroom. However, while the air out of the unit was cool, the room had no chance of ever being cooled unless the exaust tube found a way to vent to the outside. With the closest door being around 30 feet away, we decided to use some of the plastic sheeting and duct tape from Williams Ready.gov Terrorism kit to section off the bedroom from the rest of the house. A hallway that eventually leads to the back screen door would then serve as an exhaust tube. The thought was that this gave the unit a fighting chance at catching up and cooling down the room rather than just providing localized relief. |  |
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| action photo of the exhaust wind test | a box fan vented the ut the security door |
Feeling somewhat satisfied with the bedroom setup, we turned our attention towards making the den/tv/ps2 room more comfortable with the other unit. Here, with the room being 3 times as large and access to an exhaust hallway denied, we were aiming for more of a cool breeze effect rather than whole room cooling. Still, a need for an exhaust portal was necessary and we only had about 16 feet of pipe left. That is when we turned our attention to the chimney flew. Yes, a device built over 100 years ago with the purpose of heating was about to be used as a cog in our cooling wheel. So after cleaning out some debris and a little bending and stuffing, we soon had our second fully operational exhaust portal. |
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example of "direct" as opposed to "whole room cooling" |
| So with a little bending and stuffing, we soon had our second exhaust portal opeartional. In my opinion, it is this setup that really pushes us into engineering marvel status as we now had a cool breeze flowing throught the den once we discovered the ossiclating feature on the unit. A real work of art. |
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| venting up the flew | den/tv/ps2 room setup |
conclusion |
While the actual results this engineering marvel had on the enviroment inside Williams home were far from ideal, the setup we came up with did make an improvment. No longer did William fall asleep on his leather sofa only to find that his skin had somehow become bonded to it on the molecular level. Furthermore, the bedroom setup was able to achieve a constant temperature in the upper 70's which was a full 8 to 10 degrees cooler than anywhere else in the house. As an added bonus, these particular units remove humidity from the air which in turns decreases the "heat index" found inside the home. |
| In the end, William had his new dream dual zone, varriable speed blower, HVAC system installed several days later thus ending the short but glorious run of this engineering marvel. We thought about ebaying the entire setup, but then remembered that he had only borrowed the units and decided to just return them instead. Perhaps we could just make some sketches of it, put it in a Leonardo da Vinci style notebook and sell it so somebody like Bill Gates. |
| Thank you for reading. |
rvining     - 1/19/2006 9:38:11 PMfinally, some new content - it's a new engineering marvel from this past summer. |
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loh1974 - 1/20/2006 4:10:44 PM I could have solved all your problems in about 10 min with a tape measure and a trip to Sears... It's a thing called a window unit... |
wmartin   - 1/21/2006 1:09:36 AMSomeone needs to read the entire article. And it is a 'new dream TRIPLE zone'. |
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loh1974 - 1/21/2006 9:48:55 AM Well..... then I think your first problem was windows that wont open...I bet you'd of spent a lot less time with a putty knife than you did with this 'marvel/expierement'..but nevertheless all that matters now is YOU ARE IN THE ZONE... literally |
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rvining - 1/21/2006 10:28:08 AM rv.com requires that you go beyond the headline... which is ironic considering its author. |
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rvining - 7/19/2006 12:49:19 PM hey wmartin, the heat got me reminiscing about this... remember back when you had the automotive equivalent of a wrecked '92 camero whos primary color was primer grey cooling your house? that was awesome. |
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wmartin - 7/19/2006 1:17:28 PM Actually I dont remember it b/c my brain synapse quit working around 117 degrees of stagnant air. All I remember is my dream leader squirrel with Dan's head and a glove. |
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rvining - 7/19/2006 1:22:14 PM the rv.com mantra is 'cheap and clean'. that photo manipulation does not meet both criteria and is therefore not listed anywhere on this site. |
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loh1974 - 7/19/2006 8:11:42 PM Speaking of WLM and his 'zones' regarding his air prob a while back.... Is anyone finding that their car a/c just does not seem to get cool enough? My car said 108 degrees yesterday! |
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