I just had a conversation with a chap who's putting more insulation in his attic. I jokingly reminded him to start at 3:00 a.m. to avoid the 135°F attic temps we've been experiencing locally.
He said "Nah, no problem. I disconnect an A/C duct and let it cool the attic. Gets it down to about 80-85°. I re-tape the duct when I'm done."
After reassembling the parts of my exploded brain, I calculated he might be on to something...
I've done that in a hot cellar, one time. Another fellow and I were installing central AC. Of course, it was killer hot. I think the other guy thought of it, to run the central AC for a few minutes, while we did the duct work. Did a good job, too.
If only they had AC ductwork around the boiler in the power plant _TO_ unfasten!!!! Did a pulverized coal flow test in middle of July heat wave about like this one outside St Louis some years ago. 140F roughly around the boiler; it felt absolutely MAAAAHVULESS to go take break in the doorway where outdoor temps were only 105F or so...
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Reminds me of a time I was working on a BellSouth cable vault ( the little buried thingies they have all over, that are actually pre-cast concrete equipment rooms lined with racks of gear, and only the condensor and the hatch above ground ).
I would go in for 15 minutes, and have to take a break ( no AC, it was hotter than hell in there ). As I stuck my head up the hatch for some air, I was rejoicing in how cool it felt by comparison.
Then I remembered it was a 98 degree day, and very humid :-(
I worked on a group-build of a church on a scorching hot day. It was a 48 hour build. Start Friday night and finish on Sunday night. Foundation and concrete floor in, and the entire building built on the slab, brick exterior, roof, drywall, carpet, heating & air conditioning all done in 48 hours.
Once the roof was on they started installing the HVAC. It was so hot that once they had the evaporators installed and the power on, they got the AC running before the drywall was up and the doors and windows installed. It was soooo nice to have some cool as I was working intalling vacuum pipes on the freshly drywalled and still wet mud on the ceiling before the T-bar guys got started.
The only two downsides I can think of is cost (I would consider it cheap for the comfort) and the possibility that it might introduce fibers from the insulation into the home.
Glad I wasn't there!
I wonder if he were a plumber working in a hot basement, would he flood it to cool off...? ;)
R
I'd gladly traded places... :)
On top of that, if you've ever been around pulverized coal, you can imagine how pleasant extractive sampling from the coal pipes is...
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I remember working on B-52's on the flight line when the outside temp was 110 and inside the aircraft was 150+. They had a/c carts that blew cold air thru a 12" flex duct into the plane. Even then it was miserable. Same principle though as working in a hot attic. The chap may have learned from a similar experience.
You could have gone to church for me?
I assume he goes downstairs and sets the thermostat to the 'icebox' setting? Cool air will only come out of the open duct as long as the unit is running, and I'd think (hope?) that the un-insulated attic area would heat back up a lot faster than the rest of the house.
on 7/14/2009 8:46 AM (ET) HeyBub wrote the following:
I don't do much work in the attic, but if I am going to look for something in all the boxes stored up there, I open some windows in the room below and turn on the whole house fan. It won't get the attic much cooler than the outside temps, but the breeze is nice.
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