Comment on Why don’t we use radiators as heat sinks in the summer and pump cold water through them?

teh_shame@infosec.pub ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

• PetDinosaurs@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Lots of correct answers here, but this is probably the best.

  The real benefit of ac is dehumidifying. That’s the most important part. The cooling is a side effect of that, which does also improve comfort.

  There’s a very good reason that people say “but it’s a dry heat”.

  source

  • XeroxCool@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I’ve been in 115°F dry heat in Paso Robles, California. I was comfortable outside until my feet started burning through my shoes. Totally unexpected, being from a place where the common 90°/90% days just knock me out

    source

    • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      A few years ago, I had an argument about this with a buddy from Arizona. He was claiming that his 115° heat was worse than my Dallas 105° heat. I pointed out that his was at like 20% humidity, while Dallas was at like 70-80%. He didn’t believe me. Swore up and down that it wasn’t as bad.

      Then he flew in to visit for a week, and got heat exhaustion on the second day of his trip. He went to an amusement park when it was like 105° and humid. He originally wanted me to tag along too, since I live in the area. I told him he was crazy, and that he shouldn’t go. He called me a pussy and went. A few hours later, I get a phone call asking me to come pick him up, because he’s so hot that the on-site EMTs don’t trust him to drive back to his hotel.

      He hasn’t talked shit about humid heat ever since. Wet bulb thermometers don’t lie.

      source
  • isthingoneventhis@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Humidity fucking sucks. Inescapable heat, feels like you’re wrapped in a soggy blanket, bleh. No thanks.

    source
  • owatnext@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Spent the day in Alamogordo, New Mexico visiting White Sands desert. It was 110°F and basically no humidity. I stayed hydrated, wore a hat and sunnies and was fine. Now, where I live it is like 85-90° and 90% humidity. I feel worse in that when sitting in the shade than I did in the middle of a literal desert.

    source
  • Today@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I worked at a golf course in Florida in college. People would come from much hotter places and start out walking. After 9 holes (or less) they were begging for a cart.

    source
• alvvayson@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  This is the most important answer. Radiators are actually used in combination with heat pumps to cool up to a few degrees Celsius, to prevent condensation.

  The problem is, it isn’t really effective. The water temp can’t go to the dew point, or you will get condensation everywhere. In the radiator, but also around the piping in wall cavities, where it will feed mold growth.

  A/C’s don’t have this problem because the piping doesn’t get cold and the heat exchanger (inside fan unit) gets very cold and the condensate gets captured in a drip tray and pumped away.

  source

  • Natanael@slrpnk.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Here in Sweden we are now building out “remote cooling” as the direct translation would be, in addition to the decades old remote heating infrastructure we already have. It’s literally dedicated warm water and cold water lines from a central location in the city (usually a heat plant, often burning garbage, now also from central coolers) to various buildings. They’re properly insulated all the way, and connected to the central heating system in each building.

    A building manager could hook it up to their general ventilation / A/C system to increase both heating and cooling capacity, often much more cost effective than using electricity locally for the same amount of capacity.

    source
  • rufus@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    there are radiators with fans, blowing air through them to migitate for the condensation. that seems to work. it’s obviously more expensive than normal radiators.

    source
• Cheems@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Just put a drip tray on the floor with a heating element that evaporates the condensation.

  source

  • sploosh@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Just pump it outside. There’s no reason to dump a kilowatt or more into a heater strip when removing moisture from the air on a hot day makes our sweat work better, cooling us more efficiently.

    source

    • Cheems@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Honestly I was just trying to be counterintuitive

      source
• Zippy@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  I did this exact thing with my boiler forces air system. Piped it in the summer that when watering the lawn, I could have all the child water go thru the condenser. Worked quite well for chill air but the condensation would have destroyed the condenser I am sure and mold would have rapidly been a problem. I could produce liters of water a day easily. Was not viable.

  source