So When Did They Put Air Conditioning In Schools? (middle school, football, logic)
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Some of the shops in my town have no A/C. A few of those are pizza places (order at the counter, not take out). Those places umm, toasty in the summer. On hot days, I don't linger more a few minutes. But anytime heat is actually dangerous for some people (except maybe those with medical issues) everyone's uncomfortable.
Well, yeah, you live in a very old part of the country.
And you guys who keep saying "except for those with medical issues", how do you know such people aren't part of a school community?
Well, yeah, you live in a very old part of the country.
Surely there are some old buildings in other parts of the country?
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And you guys who keep saying "except for those with medical issues", how do you know such people aren't part of a school community?
There might be, but I don't remember ever hearing of someone with such a medical issue in school. The heat would need to be rather high and/or no ventilation at all.
^^Yesterday I came across and posted a statistic that more people die of extreme heat than extreme cold. Now these are often babies left in cars and elderly people, but the fact remains, it's more than a simple "personal preference" issue. All the advice on medical sites says that when it's getting too hot, "get thee to a cooler place", also, "reduce activity". I can think of no other business where people are expected to work w/o air conditioning, anywhere in the country. Granted, I am not familiar with Seattle, but I am familiar with Minneapolis. Everything there is air-conditioned, except perhaps the schools and some people's homes.
It's all over... police officers on beats, farmers and farm workers, construction workers, pavers, roofers, loggers, ranchers, and just about any outdoor profession...
There could very well come a day where the uniform building code requires minimum levels of cooling just as it does for heat.
One problem with cooling is it is dependent for the most part on electricity.
Heating can be totally independent of electricity... milivolt gas furnaces which are still prominent throughout the country and especially in my part of California.
My ancestors would retreat to the basement if the heat became unbearable... on the plains it was the root cellars
Schools have AC? It is my experience that here in New York the schools limit AC to the library, the rooms with large numbers of computers, and the administrative offices. Standard classrooms rarely have AC.
My community college (SUNY Suffolk/Suffolk Community) did have AC in all buildings/rooms.
Surely there are some old buildings in other parts of the country?
There might be, but I don't remember ever hearing of someone with such a medical issue in school.
Sure there are old buildings all over the country, but your area has the most, from stats I've seen.
And For Ford's Sake! All of you who are so adamantly opposed to A/C in schools remind me of these people Garrison Keillor talks about in MN who feel they just don't deserve to be comfortable. Or Ebeneeezer Scrooge, telling Bob Cratchitt not to waste the wood to keep warm. It's that old Puritan Work Ethic stuff, e.g. "who said you should be comfortable?"
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Originally Posted by Ultrarunner
It's all over... police officers on beats, farmers and farm workers, construction workers, pavers, roofers, loggers, ranchers, and just about any outdoor profession...
There could very well come a day where the uniform building code requires minimum levels of cooling just as it does for heat.
One problem with cooling is it is dependent for the most part on electricity.
Heating can be totally independent of electricity... milivolt gas furnaces which are still prominent throughout the country and especially in my part of California.
My ancestors would retreat to the basement if the heat became unbearable... on the plains it was the root cellars
As you say, they went somewhere to get cool. I don't get why people don't understand this. There is an urge, except with some of these "perpetual responsibility" types to be comfortable!
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I've read some of these "baby left in the car" stories. Do you suppose that never happens in the winter? Of course it does, but the results aren't as deleterious.
Heck, back in Champaign, IL in the 70s, the farmers had air-conditioned cabs on their tractors that they used to tool around the fields. The housing projects were air-conditioned. Virtually every apt. building was air-conditioned. Most homes had at least a room A/C somewhere. And this was 45 years ago! I just looked up the schools there, and it seems like the oldest HS is not A/C, but the other one, built in 1966, is. Some people recognized the utility of, if not absolute need for, many decades ago.
Here is an interesting article (opinion piece) about A/C. You will note that 87% of people in the US have A/C in their homes. Air-conditioning haters: It’s not as bad for the environment as heating. "The case against cooling, like certain other pillars of hipster sanctimony, stands on a foundation of half-formed ideas and intuitions. Opponents cite a mishmash of concerns that begin with global warming and extend to worries over personal health, moral laxity, and some ambiguous notion of what it means to live in harmony with the natural world. And running through them all is the strange and puritanical politics of human comfort."
There could very well come a day where the uniform building code requires minimum levels of cooling just as it does for heat
What already exists are code requirements for sufficient air exchange based on the population in the building. An old building probably has satisfactory air exchange...it will have plenty of openable windows and will simply be drafty.
A newer building is likely to have been designed for mechanical air handling...and it likely has a greater population now than it was originally designed for.
And For Ford's Sake! All of you who are so adamantly opposed to A/C in schools remind me of these people Garrison Keillor talks about in MN who feel they just don't deserve to be comfortable. Or Ebeneeezer Scrooge, telling Bob Cratchitt not to waste the wood to keep warm. It's that old Puritan Work Ethic stuff, e.g. "who said you should be comfortable?"
When did I ever say anything about uncomfortable? I'm more uncomfortable during the summer from indoor places being too cold than the heat. And I'd rather have fresh air inside and less than perfect comfort temperatures anyway. It also makes the heat of the outdoors feel less hot, or at less of a surprise to the body, I'm more used to heat. I don't like everything sealed when it's unnecessary. But no, it seems a lot of people make a fuss about a bit of warmth inside. What's the big deal? We wait months and months of winter and then once it finally warm enough to open the windows, many leave it sealed up and turn on the A/C. Bah.
Edit: If cared about comfort over almost anything, I'd avoid spending anytime outside except in near perfect weather.
Schools have AC? It is my experience that here in New York the schools limit AC to the library, the rooms with large numbers of computers, and the administrative offices. Standard classrooms rarely have AC.
My community college (SUNY Suffolk/Suffolk Community) did have AC in all buildings/rooms.
Yea, I grew up on Long Island, too. I never knew it was common until this thread. Though I hadn't thought about the south, but I assumed the rest of the country would be similar. I'd probably just open the window if I had A/C in the dorms. The one time I did live in an air conditioned dorm, my windows were left open all of September. Most of the rest of the dorm did similar, no idea why it was set so cold. Opening windows was of no help; it was too cold at night.
I am well versed in A/C... I am responsible for Hospital and Office systems... at one 33,000 square foot single story building I've been averaging almost 30k a year for maintenance and repairs plus the time of use electric rates spike just when the A/C use is the highest... 10 to 12k total monthly electric bill including A/C.
I've also installed quite a few residential systems for friends and family... yet, with my background, I have never lived in a home with A/C
The local utility has a program that will disable A/C if the grid is at near capacity.
In the trades we classify most A/C as comfort cooling as opposed to process cooling.
My friends that grew up and live in Hawaii don't have A/C and never have... they are the same ones that often find the Bay Area cold as far as temperature... being climitized is another way to look at it.
As mentioned... within one week of moving into a 1860's home my sister-in-law insisted on A/C and got it... the generations of the same family going back over a 150 years did just fine without it in the same home...
Don't get me wrong... I am all for modern HVAC systems... it keeps me employed and pays my bills.
As to the original question... all the new portable classrooms here have A/C... none of the brick and mortar school houses do... Oakland CA...
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