Evening star., 1934-12-08
Air Conditioning
Needs in Summer Realized,
But People Slow to
Grasp Winter Use.
BY LAWRENCE TUCKER.

The comforts of air conditioning are
we'll known to practically every home
owner in Washington. In Midsummer
the air conditioned theaters, restau-
rants, stores and beauty parlors are
filled with people seeking relief from
the uncomfortable weather outside,
but most are content to put up with
antiquated methods Of heating during
the even more uncomfortable Winter
time.
Perhaps the manufacturers OF home
air conditioning have been little slow
in placing their equipment before the
consumer by means Of extensive ad-
vertising campaigns. but the fact re-
mains that the equipment Is avail
able. 1t will do the job. and the pub
lie wants to know more about 1t. 1t
will, therefore, be the purpose OF this
column to present, in a very con-
densed manner. some idea as to the
scope Of domestic air conditioning as
applied to heating and ventilatlng.
The owners of houses that are al
ready built and occupied are natural
" interested in a plant that will be
easy to install and will require min
imum amount of cutting and tearing
out. The builders Of new homes de-
sire equipment that can be put In
with a minimum Of labor and as little
bother as possible. The machines to
fulfill these requirements must there
fore be compact. in such form that
they can be readily assembled, and OF
simple design and construction SO that
the average electrician, heating con-
tractor or sheet metal worker will be
able to make the installation mex
pensively.
The air conditioner now available
for the home roughly follow two types
Of design; the direct and indirect fired
central units. We will consider nrst
the direct fired machines. As the
name implies the heat that IS gen
Grated by the gas or oil burner, or
possibly coal furnace. is applied di-
rectly to the circulated air by means
of a heat transfer shell made OF
welded steel plate or cast iron. This
shell usually has fms or some other
means Of increasing its exposed area
so that the greatest possible amount
Of air is brought In direct contact with
the heated surface. This means OF
heat transfer Is somewhat like the
old hot-air furnace, but the blower
that pulls the air out Of the house and
forces is up again is the mechanism
that definitely removes the stigma
from the modern air conditioner that
mas always been connected with those
antiquated heaters. This blower is
usually standard, slow-Speed, multi
blade affair, belt-driven by a small
electric motor. 1t will completely
change the air in the house from eight
to ten times every hour and through
its use 1t Is not necessary to install
large, cumbersome ducts to circulate
the heated air by gravity throughout
the house. Instead. small rectangular
ducts ars used that can be placed out
OF the way close to the ceiling and will
run up between the studding in a
standard wall. Registers are placed at
the outlets, as we'll as spliters and
dampers in the main ducts SO that
the supply Of air can be definitely and
easily directed to any portion Of the
house in any quantity desired. Fur
thermore, because Of the fact the air
does not depend upon gravity for cir
culation 1t is much lower in tempera-
ture and is not dry or burned.
In Midwinter, however, the air does