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I once looked at a problem job in an office building on Long Island. It can get pretty windy here on the Isle of Long. This building had a wide driveway that passed under the first floor to a parking lot out in the back. The wind barreled down that driveway like a runaway train and made the concrete that formed the building's first floor colder than outer space.
 "The people who work in that first-floor office are freezing to death," the guy in charge told me. "I'm not surprised," I said. "This is a terrific great example of radiant cooling." "I think we need more heat," he said. "I think you're right." "It won't be hard to do, though," he continued. "We have 1-1/4" commercial fin-tube radiation running around the perimeter. There's room in the cabinet to add a second tier of fin-tube. That will double the heat in every room." "How do you figure that," I asked.
"What is heat?" I asked. "Huh?" "What is heat?" I repeated. "What are you talking about? Is this a trick question?" "Nope," I said. "It's just something we need to talk about. Is fin-tube radiation heat? Or does it have the ability to give off heat." "Oh, I see what you're getting at," he said. "Okay, it has the ability to give off heat. I think you're picking nits, though. With twice as much ability to give off heat, we'll give off twice as much heat, okay?" "How do you figure that?" I asked. "You're a wise guy, aren't you?" "Nope, just curious. Are you going to change the size of the pipes leading to the fin-tube?" "Nah, I can't get at those pipes. They're all behind the walls."
"Are you going to raise the temperature of the boiler water?"
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"Well, there will be twice as much fin-tube in each room," he said. "That's twice as much heat."| Dan Holohan - [Intro] | [Email] | [Website] |
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