Evening star., 1935-01-05
AirConditioning
Method Of Obtaining Sum-
mer Comfort Need Not
Be Expensive.
BY LAWRENCE TUCKER.

There have been many so-called air
conditioners placed on the market the
last few years for which the sponsors
have promised great things. They
have been heralded as doing every
thing from cooling the entire house
to perfuming the air. These machines
have taken various shapes and sizes
and, while they will no doubt perform
the simple functions Of adding hu-
midity in Winter. circulating the air
in Summer and possibly cooling a
small volume of air by water evapora-
ton, for the most part their capabil-
tiles are extremely limited.
On the other hand, there are meth
ods of obtaining Summer comfort at
Q cost that will not exceed very much
the expense of these gadget-like mech
anisms, and can be built from ma
terial easily obtainable from local
sources. In fact, the average plumber
or sheet metal worker can easily as
semble the proper equipment and the
owner will be able to equal, and some
times improve upon, the results OBJ
tanned from expensive factory-made
machines.
Keeping Down Expense.
As we pointed out last week, the
most costly part Of an air conditioning
system is the refrigeration machinery.
Obviously, If we can lower or elimi-
nate the expense of this item, the Use
Of air conditioning will become more
widespread and popular. The home
owner or the operator of commercial
establishment does not wish to turn
his place into veritable power house
if he can help it. Neither does he
wish to incur the expense Of operating
large motors and having to put up
with the possible resultant noise.
Hence the use of small ice machine
and water storage tank, or small
ice melting tank, Is entirely practical
and will enable the owner to secure
maximum capacity with q minimum
outlay.
The use of a small ice machine and
cold storage tank is limited to es-
tablishmentS that require cooling over
short periods of time, such as resi-
dences, restaurants serving meals
during only two or three short periods
daily, or possibly theater with only
two or three evening performances.
The reason for this is that the small
ice machine must work for q con-
siderable length of time before the
system Is put into operation, making
cold water which is stored in q large
insulated tank. This water is then
used as required, being circulated
through the air-conditioning machine
by means of a small pump controlled
by thermostat. II the load was con-
tinuous 1t would never be possible to
store up enough water, and If the load
occurred over feng periods Of time the
tank would have to be unduly large
to hold the necessary cooling water.
The ice companies have naturally
been looking for some method OF
selling large quantities of their product
to people wanting air conditioning
and it is entirely practical to use ice
to do the job.
All that Is required to cool an
establishment with ice Is to build an
insulated tank, placed either in the
basement or buried in the ground
outside, and pipe the ice water to
the air conditioner. The tank can
be made of waterproofed brick, con-
crete, or steel plates welded to-
gether, properly insulated with layers
Of cork or other material. The ice Is
slid into the tank and the circulating
water Is sprayed over 1t, the cooled
water Is then circulated. through the
air conditioner by means Of a small
pump. The results obtained in this
type Of system are identical with
those obtained with an ice machine,