Call it climate, call it weather: either way, there's broad agreement that this extremely hot weather is unpleasant. So far, the central air-conditioning at Roseholme Cottage has kept up; I keep the dehumidifier going in the basement and manage the temperature setting on the main floor by how much condensation appears on the longest and most convoluted duct in the basement. 73° to 75°F keeps everything manageable and comfortable.
My car's climate control barely copes. The system is low on working fluid and I should get it into the shop, but it's not too bad, yet.
The kicker is the building at what I call the North Campus. The equipment up there is happiest between 60° and 65°F and it moves a lot of air. A zip-up hoodie over a T-shirt is barely enough, and by the time my day ends, the oppressive heat outside is something of a relief for at least the first half-hour. Going from one extreme to the other plays merry hell with my sinuses, and while it's definitely a "first world problem," it's a problem nevertheless.
By the weekend, the prediction is that the worst will have passed, for now. But if it's getting this hot in June, what's August going to be like?
Call it weather; call it climate. Either way, it's as real as a sledge hammer. And there's no dodging the blow.
Update
6 months ago
2 comments:
I feel you on the temperature extremes at work. For years, my job had me in and out of an A/C lab set at 70F, and the sticky muck of outside air in summertime Florida. 4 times daily wasn't fun.
The 70F was needed to keep an analytical instrument happy with a 1 KW RF linear, tho. It was used to excite atoms then look at the colors they gave off when the atoms collapsed back down to a less-excited state when cooled.
The liquid sample was sprayed upwards into a water-cooled 4 turn coil. They called it an inductive-coupled plasma (ICP), used to assay the phosphorus content of the fertilizer they manufactured...
Joy. (not)...
The cranky old 1997-vintage transmitter at our North Campus also required a 60-degree room to maintain full power output. While we worked on the new transmitter installation, I had to wear a lined jacket most of the time. With the new box on the air now, we can let the room rise to 70-ish. The energy savings just in reduced HVAC usage will be huge. Not having blue fingers will be a plus.
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