1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,960 Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 2 00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:08,880 Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:17,760 Speaker 1: tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello again, everyone, 4 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:20,040 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff. My name is Chris Poette and 5 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:22,880 Speaker 1: I'm an editor at how stuff works dot com. Sitting 6 00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 1: across from me is usual is senior writer Jonathan Strickland Hottown, 7 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:30,040 Speaker 1: Summer in the city, back in my neck, getting dirty 8 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:34,880 Speaker 1: and gritty. That was an interesting choice for this episode. 9 00:00:34,880 --> 00:00:36,920 Speaker 1: A little love and spoonful for you guys out there. 10 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:40,120 Speaker 1: All right. Then, we actually have a little bit of 11 00:00:40,159 --> 00:00:42,680 Speaker 1: business to get to before we jump right into the topic, 12 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:51,560 Speaker 1: and that is some listener mail. This listener mail comes 13 00:00:51,560 --> 00:00:54,360 Speaker 1: from Ted, and Ted says, I'm a regular listener of 14 00:00:54,360 --> 00:00:56,840 Speaker 1: the podcast and it's been great to listen to on 15 00:00:56,920 --> 00:00:59,040 Speaker 1: my commute to and from my co op this summer. 16 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:02,360 Speaker 1: I'd like to hear about how air conditioning HVAC units work. 17 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:04,440 Speaker 1: We design and build them, among other things that my 18 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:06,880 Speaker 1: co op company, and after helping to put one together 19 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:09,119 Speaker 1: and tested, I'm still not clear on how it works. 20 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:11,840 Speaker 1: I would also appreciate an episode about how capacitors work 21 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:13,959 Speaker 1: in circuits. As a supplement to the article on the 22 00:01:13,959 --> 00:01:16,559 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works site. Lastly, could you talk about Google 23 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:18,679 Speaker 1: Plus as well as Windows eight. Thanks a lot, keep 24 00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:21,399 Speaker 1: up the good work and good jokes. Ted, Well, Ted, 25 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:24,119 Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about air conditioners today. But stick around 26 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:26,760 Speaker 1: because right after we record this, we're recording our episode 27 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:29,600 Speaker 1: about Google Plus. Yeah, because you know, a couple of 28 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:31,399 Speaker 1: people have asked for that. Yeah, you'll like a couple, 29 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:34,560 Speaker 1: I mean, you know. And I plan on scheduling the 30 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:38,880 Speaker 1: Google Plus episode to publish immediately after this one. So 31 00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:41,399 Speaker 1: if this published on a Monday, look for it on Wednesday. 32 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:43,880 Speaker 1: If it published on Wednesday, look for it next Monday. 33 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:45,920 Speaker 1: All right then, because I don't have the calendar in 34 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:48,440 Speaker 1: front of me. But we're gonna talk about air conditioning units. 35 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:50,520 Speaker 1: We're not actually gonna talk about h VAC units today. 36 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:53,400 Speaker 1: We're just gonna talk about air conditioners because there's a 37 00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:55,400 Speaker 1: bit to them. Yeah, there's a bit to them. And 38 00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:59,040 Speaker 1: it's also we in Atlanta right now are in the 39 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:01,960 Speaker 1: middle of a pretty nasty heat wave. It actually kind 40 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:04,520 Speaker 1: of broke a little bit. We we have a little 41 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:06,920 Speaker 1: bit of a break in it right now. It's today, Yeah, 42 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:08,920 Speaker 1: it's in the it's just it's only in the upper 43 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:12,000 Speaker 1: eighties with a heat index in the mid nineties today. Yeah, 44 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:14,440 Speaker 1: but recently we had a heat index over a hundred 45 00:02:14,440 --> 00:02:17,880 Speaker 1: and seven degrees and really high humidity. So in Atlanta 46 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:20,519 Speaker 1: that was pretty miserable, and a lot of the United 47 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:22,320 Speaker 1: States has been going through the same thing. This is, 48 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:24,960 Speaker 1: of course the summer of two thousand eleven from for 49 00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:27,600 Speaker 1: all of you people who are from the future. Uh 50 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:32,040 Speaker 1: So we thought, you know what, we really appreciate air conditioning, 51 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:36,720 Speaker 1: So let's talk about how air conditioners work. Yeah, I actually, uh, 52 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:40,040 Speaker 1: I actually am very grateful for the air conditioning, especially 53 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:43,560 Speaker 1: this last week. But um. The the answer to to 54 00:02:43,639 --> 00:02:46,680 Speaker 1: the question though, how air conditioners work is sort of 55 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:49,400 Speaker 1: It's not an easy one because there are different kinds 56 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:53,880 Speaker 1: of air conditioning. Yeah. Yeah, it's all based on heat exchange, 57 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:57,000 Speaker 1: but the method of heat exchange differs from one to 58 00:02:57,080 --> 00:02:59,560 Speaker 1: the other, although I would say the majority of them 59 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:03,920 Speaker 1: use the refrigerant method of heat exchange, where you're compressing 60 00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:08,600 Speaker 1: a liquid and then you are allowing it to boil off. Um. 61 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:11,800 Speaker 1: But that's a pretty complex issue. Did you want to 62 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:14,360 Speaker 1: talk about the other types really quickly or should I 63 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:17,480 Speaker 1: just launch into a science lesson. Well, I think it 64 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:19,320 Speaker 1: might be a good idea to go ahead and talk 65 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:21,799 Speaker 1: about the type of air conditioning that most of us use, 66 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:24,280 Speaker 1: and then maybe look at some of the others. Um. 67 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:26,799 Speaker 1: I do want to mention a name that is familiar 68 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:28,000 Speaker 1: to a lot of us, at least here in the 69 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:31,920 Speaker 1: United States. That would be Willis Carrier. You might say, 70 00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:33,880 Speaker 1: you know, I don't know who that is, Like, oh, wait, 71 00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:37,480 Speaker 1: Carrier made air conditioners. Well he Uh, this was in 72 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:41,320 Speaker 1: the early twentieth century, so really the modern electrical air conditioner. 73 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:45,440 Speaker 1: Of course, electricity not being that prevalent until um, you know, 74 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:49,800 Speaker 1: the late eight hundreds, early nineteen hundreds. UM. Carrier lived 75 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:52,720 Speaker 1: in Buffalo, New York in the United States, and UM 76 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:55,840 Speaker 1: he came up with the idea of the do point control, 77 00:03:56,080 --> 00:04:00,120 Speaker 1: which is an air conditioning UH system that basically the 78 00:04:00,960 --> 00:04:05,240 Speaker 1: UH had to do with UH the saturation of cool 79 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:08,840 Speaker 1: air and UH which you know loses moisture through condensation. 80 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:12,040 Speaker 1: And that's your science lesson, isn't it. Yeah. Yeah, we're 81 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:20,559 Speaker 1: gonna have to talk about the relationship between pressure, temperature, liquids, gases, UH, 82 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:24,000 Speaker 1: and and the It's important to understand this this basic 83 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:26,520 Speaker 1: level of science in order to really get a grip 84 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:29,360 Speaker 1: on what an air conditioner is doing, because otherwise I 85 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:31,400 Speaker 1: could talk about what an air conditioner is doing, but 86 00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:34,120 Speaker 1: you would say, well, why does that work? I know 87 00:04:34,200 --> 00:04:36,279 Speaker 1: how it works, but why does it work? Yeah, we 88 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:39,320 Speaker 1: do have an article on the side about that, of course. Yeah. 89 00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:42,120 Speaker 1: Actually we have a great article on how air conditioners work, 90 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:43,960 Speaker 1: and that one was written by Marshall Brain, who was 91 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:46,280 Speaker 1: the founder of how stuff works dot com. So this 92 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:48,560 Speaker 1: is it's one of our flagship articles. If you really 93 00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:51,720 Speaker 1: want to see some good animations and illustrations about it, 94 00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:55,160 Speaker 1: I recommend checking that out. But we're gonna talk first 95 00:04:55,200 --> 00:05:00,599 Speaker 1: about well, some basic matter. So we know that matter 96 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:03,800 Speaker 1: is made up of teeny tiny particles, Yes, you know, 97 00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:08,800 Speaker 1: atoms and molecules. Right, So with solids, this these particles 98 00:05:08,839 --> 00:05:13,239 Speaker 1: are they're not really truly stationary. Okay, these are particles 99 00:05:13,279 --> 00:05:16,080 Speaker 1: are always moving, but in in solids, they're not moving 100 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:19,000 Speaker 1: a lot, right, Yeah, they're packed closely together. Yeah, they're 101 00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:21,960 Speaker 1: very very dense, and that's why we think of them 102 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:26,080 Speaker 1: as solid and liquids, not that dense and liquids. Uh, 103 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:28,800 Speaker 1: they are these particles are allowed to move around, and 104 00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:31,200 Speaker 1: they move around in a more or less random fashion. 105 00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:33,800 Speaker 1: For all we know, it could be a very orderly fashion. 106 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:36,640 Speaker 1: But it's so orderly, it's like such a complex system 107 00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:39,159 Speaker 1: that we're unable to understand it. So to us, we 108 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:41,600 Speaker 1: might as well say random. Yeah, well, there's one molecule 109 00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:44,640 Speaker 1: on the side, going okay, keeping keeping mindone, if you 110 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:46,720 Speaker 1: if you look really closely, you'll see one with those 111 00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:49,520 Speaker 1: little uh those little cones that air track, you know, 112 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:52,240 Speaker 1: the people on the tar mac use, and they're like, 113 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:54,880 Speaker 1: all right, coming in, go to the left. It's very 114 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:57,560 Speaker 1: hard to hold those with your electrons. Yeah, and that's 115 00:05:57,560 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 1: why that's why you hardly ever see them. Also, it's 116 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:01,760 Speaker 1: impossible to know where they are at any one time 117 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:05,800 Speaker 1: because the uncertainty principle. Uh wow, we're getting really kind 118 00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:08,480 Speaker 1: of crazy with our humor today. So anyway, all right, 119 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:11,760 Speaker 1: let's let's get serious. So in liquid, these particles move 120 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:15,080 Speaker 1: around more or less randomly, and some of these particles 121 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:18,839 Speaker 1: are moving around with with enough energy to break free 122 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:23,000 Speaker 1: of the surface of that liquid, so they will actually 123 00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:27,960 Speaker 1: become a particle that is in a vapor above that liquid, right, 124 00:06:28,279 --> 00:06:31,039 Speaker 1: all right, like water that evaporates and turns into water 125 00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:33,520 Speaker 1: vapor sort of. But I mean more like water that's 126 00:06:33,560 --> 00:06:36,880 Speaker 1: boiling off. But yes, um, yeah, so the I was 127 00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:39,640 Speaker 1: trying to go for an image that people could Yes, yes, 128 00:06:39,760 --> 00:06:43,040 Speaker 1: very much, very much. So. So the way the way 129 00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:44,680 Speaker 1: you would get one of these particles to do that, 130 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:46,760 Speaker 1: To get enough energy to break freeze, you have to 131 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:51,240 Speaker 1: add energy into the system, right. So you when you 132 00:06:51,279 --> 00:06:55,159 Speaker 1: add energy into the system, these particles get more well, 133 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:57,360 Speaker 1: they get more energy, they start moving around more, and 134 00:06:57,400 --> 00:06:59,679 Speaker 1: then they have they may have enough energy to break 135 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:03,320 Speaker 1: free from the surface. So if you add heat, that's 136 00:07:03,360 --> 00:07:06,159 Speaker 1: a form of energy, like the boiling water. Right, So 137 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:08,919 Speaker 1: if you start adding heat to a liquid, more of 138 00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:12,520 Speaker 1: these particles will gain energy and be able to escape 139 00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:16,360 Speaker 1: the surface of that liquid. If you get enough vapor 140 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:22,560 Speaker 1: so that it actually equals the atmospheric pressure that's on 141 00:07:22,640 --> 00:07:25,960 Speaker 1: top of that liquid, that's when you hit the boiling point. Okay, 142 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:28,840 Speaker 1: all right, So let's say you've got a pot of 143 00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:33,520 Speaker 1: water at sea level. All right, Now, boiling temperature for 144 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:35,160 Speaker 1: a pot of water at sea level is two d 145 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:37,160 Speaker 1: and twelve degrees. Now, what that means is that when 146 00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:39,840 Speaker 1: the water reaches two h twelve degrees, the particles in 147 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:42,880 Speaker 1: that water have enough energy to escape the surface of 148 00:07:42,920 --> 00:07:47,600 Speaker 1: the water, and the vapor pressure is equal to atmospheric pressure, 149 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:50,160 Speaker 1: the water will boil and the water will not get 150 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:52,800 Speaker 1: any warmer than two twelve degrees. You could have that 151 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:55,880 Speaker 1: fire pumped up as high as it's gonna go, but 152 00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:58,480 Speaker 1: the water temperature will be two hwelve degrees as it's 153 00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:01,480 Speaker 1: boiling off. Now, once the water is boiled off, if 154 00:08:01,480 --> 00:08:03,720 Speaker 1: you have a thermometer in that pot, the thermometer is 155 00:08:03,720 --> 00:08:06,800 Speaker 1: gonna skyrocket, you know, at that point. But the temperature 156 00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:08,760 Speaker 1: the water itself will remain to her and twelve because 157 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:13,720 Speaker 1: it's actually converting from liquid into gas. So that boiling 158 00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:16,840 Speaker 1: point is in is important to remember. It's it's when, 159 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:19,920 Speaker 1: like I said, when the pressure of that vapor has 160 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:23,880 Speaker 1: uh equaled the atmospheric pressure of the environment around it. 161 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:27,760 Speaker 1: So if you change the atmospheric pressure around that liquid, 162 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:32,200 Speaker 1: you change the boiling point. So if if the pressure 163 00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:35,280 Speaker 1: is if there's less pressure then it would be at 164 00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:38,280 Speaker 1: sea level, then it's going to take a lower temperature 165 00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:41,920 Speaker 1: to make that water boil. If there is more pressure 166 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:44,760 Speaker 1: then there is at sea level, then it's going to 167 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:49,080 Speaker 1: take a higher temperature to make that water boil. All right, 168 00:08:49,120 --> 00:08:51,760 Speaker 1: So let's say that we have put a lid on 169 00:08:51,880 --> 00:08:54,360 Speaker 1: top of that pot. Okay, by putting the lid on 170 00:08:54,400 --> 00:08:56,960 Speaker 1: top of that pot, we have decreased the air pressure 171 00:08:57,520 --> 00:09:00,280 Speaker 1: or the atmospheric pressure on that liquid, so the water 172 00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:03,880 Speaker 1: will boil faster. All right. If you take the lid off, 173 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:07,560 Speaker 1: then you have just increased the atmospheric pressure. Because now 174 00:09:07,679 --> 00:09:10,440 Speaker 1: more air is actually pressing down that liquid. It's going 175 00:09:10,679 --> 00:09:15,160 Speaker 1: to actually increase the boiling point to its normal boiling 176 00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:19,079 Speaker 1: point at that particular environment. So now we've talked about 177 00:09:19,120 --> 00:09:24,080 Speaker 1: how you have increased pressure, you've increased the temperature of 178 00:09:24,120 --> 00:09:27,679 Speaker 1: the boiling point. Now that's the basics for what we're 179 00:09:27,679 --> 00:09:31,040 Speaker 1: going to talk about with air conditioners. Because air conditioners 180 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:34,640 Speaker 1: are at least the typical ones you find in houses 181 00:09:34,679 --> 00:09:41,240 Speaker 1: and buildings, use pressure to use to create a pressurized 182 00:09:41,280 --> 00:09:45,000 Speaker 1: liquid that then turns into a depressurized gas. And it's 183 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:47,880 Speaker 1: a closed loop system. And the liquid in this case 184 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:51,720 Speaker 1: is a refrigerant, right, so it tends to be some 185 00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:56,880 Speaker 1: sort of of of material that has a boiling point 186 00:09:57,360 --> 00:09:59,920 Speaker 1: that is pretty low. Like it doesn't it's not a 187 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:04,480 Speaker 1: very high temperature in other words, in normal conditions, normal 188 00:10:04,520 --> 00:10:08,600 Speaker 1: being like in everyday atmospheric conditions that would be a gas. Right. 189 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:12,800 Speaker 1: So in the one of the common ones we talked 190 00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:15,320 Speaker 1: about is free on, which at this point is more 191 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:18,760 Speaker 1: or less a generic term, kind of like Xerox or Kleenex. 192 00:10:18,760 --> 00:10:20,960 Speaker 1: Would you know those companies would argue they are not 193 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:24,280 Speaker 1: generic terms. Yes, they would argue. Their lawyers would argue, yes, certainly. 194 00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:27,600 Speaker 1: But but people use effectively use them, right right, So, 195 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:29,880 Speaker 1: like I said, I'm going to xerox this, you're you 196 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:31,920 Speaker 1: talk about, you're making a copy of it, or I'm 197 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:34,040 Speaker 1: going to Google this. In that case, you may be 198 00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:36,240 Speaker 1: actually using Google, or you may just be using some 199 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:39,240 Speaker 1: search engine. Kind of the same thing. When people talk 200 00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:42,360 Speaker 1: about free on, unless they're spit talking about the specific 201 00:10:42,559 --> 00:10:46,760 Speaker 1: uh refrigerant, it's more or less just refrigerants in general. Yeah, 202 00:10:46,760 --> 00:10:50,600 Speaker 1: based on my experience recently, I haven't seen the actual 203 00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:54,080 Speaker 1: product free on in quite some time. I think for 204 00:10:54,480 --> 00:11:00,439 Speaker 1: concerns of cfcslora flora carbons. Yes, Um, so I that 205 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:03,520 Speaker 1: that these days, I don't think free on is used 206 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:05,640 Speaker 1: very much, if at all, at least not in the 207 00:11:05,720 --> 00:11:08,800 Speaker 1: United States. Um. Of course I could be wrong, but 208 00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:13,120 Speaker 1: there are other refrigerants too, so right, so what an 209 00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:16,080 Speaker 1: air cons what an air condissuer does, is it? It 210 00:11:16,160 --> 00:11:19,760 Speaker 1: pressurizes this refrigerant in one section. Think of think of 211 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:23,040 Speaker 1: the air conditioner as a closed loop system that has 212 00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:26,520 Speaker 1: a low pressure section and a high pressure section. All right, 213 00:11:26,840 --> 00:11:30,160 Speaker 1: the and the guardians of this, you know, the two 214 00:11:30,240 --> 00:11:33,480 Speaker 1: elements that that separate the low pressure from the high 215 00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:36,520 Speaker 1: pressure are a compressor on one end of the loop 216 00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:40,559 Speaker 1: and a valve on the other end of the loop 217 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:43,400 Speaker 1: and expansion valve on the other end of the loop. 218 00:11:43,720 --> 00:11:47,000 Speaker 1: These two act as the gateway that keep the pressure 219 00:11:47,080 --> 00:11:50,920 Speaker 1: high on one side and low on the other. All right, 220 00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:54,480 Speaker 1: And it's hot on one side and cool on the other, yes, exactly. 221 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:59,200 Speaker 1: Because as we pressurize the the refrigerant, the temperature of 222 00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:04,640 Speaker 1: that refrigerant goes up, all right. So the refrigerant, normally 223 00:12:04,720 --> 00:12:08,080 Speaker 1: at at room temperature, would be a gas. You use 224 00:12:08,280 --> 00:12:11,720 Speaker 1: the compressor to compress this gas to a point where 225 00:12:11,720 --> 00:12:14,040 Speaker 1: it's very very dense, and then you run it through 226 00:12:14,200 --> 00:12:19,439 Speaker 1: a series of coils that allow the the this high 227 00:12:19,480 --> 00:12:22,880 Speaker 1: temperature pressurized gas to give off a lot of heat. 228 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:27,280 Speaker 1: The heat escapes into the ambient. Uh well, that the 229 00:12:27,400 --> 00:12:30,400 Speaker 1: environmental atmosphere. So what the atmosphere has to be of 230 00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:34,600 Speaker 1: a cooler temperature than the the pressurized gas. Right For, 231 00:12:34,679 --> 00:12:36,480 Speaker 1: in order for heat to transfer, it has to go 232 00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:38,520 Speaker 1: from high heat to low heat. You can't have something 233 00:12:38,559 --> 00:12:41,199 Speaker 1: go low heat to high heat. So, in other words, 234 00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:43,960 Speaker 1: if I were to turn on my air conditioner and 235 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:48,400 Speaker 1: I happened to be in an incredibly hot environment, let's 236 00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:51,360 Speaker 1: say that for argument's sake, it's a hundred and sixty 237 00:12:51,360 --> 00:12:56,280 Speaker 1: degrees outside and my pressurized refrigerant only gets up to 238 00:12:56,320 --> 00:12:58,800 Speaker 1: a temperature of a hundred and forty degrees, that air 239 00:12:58,840 --> 00:13:01,640 Speaker 1: conditioner is not going to work because you are not 240 00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:05,520 Speaker 1: going to have any heat exchange from the actually I'll 241 00:13:05,559 --> 00:13:07,800 Speaker 1: have the wrong sort of heat exchange, but you're not 242 00:13:07,840 --> 00:13:10,960 Speaker 1: gonna have any heat released from the refrigerant into the 243 00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:13,880 Speaker 1: atmosphere because the atmosphere is actually warmer than the refrigerant 244 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:18,280 Speaker 1: even at its pressurized state. All right, So you've got 245 00:13:18,320 --> 00:13:23,000 Speaker 1: these coils that this heated gas, this compressed heated gas 246 00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:25,640 Speaker 1: is moving through. As it moves through the coils and 247 00:13:25,679 --> 00:13:28,800 Speaker 1: starts to release heat into the atmosphere, that means the 248 00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:34,240 Speaker 1: gas cools. Well. As gas cools, it condenses, and this 249 00:13:34,320 --> 00:13:38,000 Speaker 1: is the process where a gas converts back into a liquid. 250 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:41,439 Speaker 1: Now it's going to be at a liquid at a 251 00:13:41,520 --> 00:13:45,040 Speaker 1: higher temperature than normally would be because it's under pressure. 252 00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:47,360 Speaker 1: You know, we talked about that the higher the pressure, 253 00:13:47,440 --> 00:13:49,400 Speaker 1: the higher the boiling point. So once you get that 254 00:13:49,400 --> 00:13:53,840 Speaker 1: temperature down below the boiling point of that pressurized substance, 255 00:13:54,200 --> 00:13:57,120 Speaker 1: it condenses into a liquid. This is how we get 256 00:13:57,160 --> 00:14:02,079 Speaker 1: things like liquid liquid hydrogen, with oxygen liquid nitrogen. You 257 00:14:02,120 --> 00:14:07,800 Speaker 1: compress these gases to a very condensed state, compressed state, 258 00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:10,679 Speaker 1: i should say, and it condenses into a liquid, and 259 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:12,520 Speaker 1: as long as you keep it under pressure, it will 260 00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:15,120 Speaker 1: stay a liquid. If you release that pressure, then it 261 00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:19,360 Speaker 1: immediately starts to boil off and convert into a gas. Well, 262 00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:22,800 Speaker 1: that's the secret. That's the secret of the the valve 263 00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:25,520 Speaker 1: at the end of this loop um the expansion valve, 264 00:14:25,600 --> 00:14:30,680 Speaker 1: because once it the pressurized gas gets to the expansion valve, 265 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:34,080 Speaker 1: that's what allows it to move into the low pressure 266 00:14:34,160 --> 00:14:38,720 Speaker 1: system and it immediately begins to boil off and essentially 267 00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:41,680 Speaker 1: starts absorbing heat from the environment. Just as it was 268 00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:46,240 Speaker 1: releasing heat when it was going through the condenser coils, 269 00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:50,239 Speaker 1: now it's it's absorbing heat, which means that the surrounding 270 00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:53,600 Speaker 1: air loses heat. It transfers the heat from the air 271 00:14:53,720 --> 00:14:58,760 Speaker 1: into this boiling liquid that's becoming gas very very quickly, 272 00:14:59,400 --> 00:15:03,040 Speaker 1: and then the surrounding air is cooled. That's the basis 273 00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:07,120 Speaker 1: of an air conditioner. Yes, we can actually walk through 274 00:15:07,160 --> 00:15:10,440 Speaker 1: those phases and go into more detail now, but that 275 00:15:10,440 --> 00:15:13,920 Speaker 1: that's basically how it works. It's all about, really you 276 00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:16,120 Speaker 1: have two closed systems. You have the closed system of 277 00:15:16,160 --> 00:15:18,960 Speaker 1: the refrigerant and then you have the closed system of 278 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:22,560 Speaker 1: the air inside whatever it is you're you're cooling. Because 279 00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:25,640 Speaker 1: you're not pulling air in from the outside environment and 280 00:15:25,640 --> 00:15:28,480 Speaker 1: then cooling it and then pushing it into the building. 281 00:15:28,760 --> 00:15:31,720 Speaker 1: You're recycling the air that's inside the building and it's 282 00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:35,000 Speaker 1: cooling it through the bye bye this heat exchange method 283 00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:38,880 Speaker 1: and just a little bit of h v A C. 284 00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:44,440 Speaker 1: Some systems can reverse it works, and that's called a 285 00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:46,240 Speaker 1: heat pump. I have one on my house, is a 286 00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:50,400 Speaker 1: matter of fact um, which is very convenient. Right In 287 00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:53,040 Speaker 1: that case, you're you're doing the same system, except you're 288 00:15:53,160 --> 00:15:57,440 Speaker 1: you're reversing the process. Essentially, you're recycling the warm air 289 00:15:57,480 --> 00:15:59,920 Speaker 1: inside your house and it's warming it instead of cool 290 00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:03,800 Speaker 1: it YEA and injecting the cooler air outside from the 291 00:16:03,800 --> 00:16:06,760 Speaker 1: process that actually takes place in the unit itself outside 292 00:16:07,240 --> 00:16:10,760 Speaker 1: because if you've ever been outside and next to an 293 00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:14,520 Speaker 1: air conditioner, you've felt you know, it blows hot air outside, 294 00:16:14,560 --> 00:16:17,560 Speaker 1: So you know that, but that's not coming from inside 295 00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:21,640 Speaker 1: the house. That is the result of the process, um, 296 00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:25,360 Speaker 1: and the the exchange of heat. Now, UM Carrier actually 297 00:16:25,400 --> 00:16:28,240 Speaker 1: came up with a system for buildings. He installed one 298 00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:34,320 Speaker 1: in at Grahman's Metropolitan Theater in l a Man's Chinese Theater. Yes, 299 00:16:34,520 --> 00:16:38,440 Speaker 1: I've been there, UM saw the Matrix sequel. It was terrible. 300 00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:42,920 Speaker 1: Theater was great. It was terrible. UM. Yeah. And at 301 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:47,520 Speaker 1: that point air conditioning was used to uh feed air 302 00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:50,800 Speaker 1: or take air in the ceiling and put it out 303 00:16:50,840 --> 00:16:52,680 Speaker 1: at the floor level, which would be you know, useful 304 00:16:52,720 --> 00:16:54,480 Speaker 1: because the hotter air would be toward the top of 305 00:16:54,520 --> 00:16:58,520 Speaker 1: the room. Um. And the first fully air conditioned office building, 306 00:16:58,560 --> 00:17:03,440 Speaker 1: according to Britannica, was the MILEM Building or MILAM. I 307 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:06,960 Speaker 1: don't know, it's like M I L A M in 308 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:09,600 Speaker 1: San Antonio in the United States, and that was built 309 00:17:09,600 --> 00:17:13,840 Speaker 1: in the late nineteen twenties. UM. So again you know, 310 00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:17,199 Speaker 1: this hasn't been forever and ever, but there uh you know, 311 00:17:17,359 --> 00:17:20,040 Speaker 1: it's certainly something that we use and a lot of 312 00:17:20,040 --> 00:17:23,840 Speaker 1: the buildings here down south, especially in these states. But 313 00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:26,119 Speaker 1: there are many, many other types of air conditioning that 314 00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:28,000 Speaker 1: have been going on for years. Do you want to 315 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:29,719 Speaker 1: get into those yet or do you want to go 316 00:17:29,760 --> 00:17:31,840 Speaker 1: back and get more into the process. Let me, let 317 00:17:31,880 --> 00:17:34,120 Speaker 1: me get more into the process of the typical air conditioner, 318 00:17:34,200 --> 00:17:36,919 Speaker 1: because this is what's going to apply, I think to 319 00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:40,280 Speaker 1: the majority of our listeners who have air conditioning. Yeah, 320 00:17:40,359 --> 00:17:43,160 Speaker 1: so so, and then we can talk about the other kinds, 321 00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:47,480 Speaker 1: including uh, my favorite, the swamp cooler. We'll get into that. 322 00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:52,719 Speaker 1: So let's let's break this down further about the parts 323 00:17:52,840 --> 00:17:55,280 Speaker 1: of an air conditioner. So you've got usually typically of 324 00:17:55,320 --> 00:18:00,480 Speaker 1: an electric motor, and the electric motor you turn earns 325 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:04,000 Speaker 1: a piston. This this is a very simple compressor. This 326 00:18:04,080 --> 00:18:07,280 Speaker 1: is like the simplest form of a compressor. So not 327 00:18:07,359 --> 00:18:09,920 Speaker 1: all air conditioner compressors are like this, but this, this 328 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:14,000 Speaker 1: demonstrates the principle. Uh you would call this a piston 329 00:18:14,080 --> 00:18:17,879 Speaker 1: compressor or a reciprocating compressor. So imagine that you have 330 00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:21,520 Speaker 1: a chamber, all right, so a cylinder, let's say, and 331 00:18:21,600 --> 00:18:24,640 Speaker 1: inside the cylinder you have a piston that can move 332 00:18:24,840 --> 00:18:28,119 Speaker 1: up and down the chamber which is sealed, and you 333 00:18:28,359 --> 00:18:30,879 Speaker 1: the electric motor makes the piston go up and down. 334 00:18:31,240 --> 00:18:35,160 Speaker 1: Now at the bottom of this chamber, you have two valves. 335 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:38,920 Speaker 1: You have a an intake or suction valve that will 336 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:43,359 Speaker 1: only allow fluid to flow into the chamber through and 337 00:18:43,440 --> 00:18:46,240 Speaker 1: that's that's coming in from the low pressure side of 338 00:18:46,280 --> 00:18:50,840 Speaker 1: this air conditioner system, so it's pulling the the refrigerant 339 00:18:50,920 --> 00:18:54,600 Speaker 1: gas into the chamber. On the other side, you have 340 00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:58,960 Speaker 1: the outtake or the the discharge valve. Is trying to 341 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:00,600 Speaker 1: think of the right word for it, This charge valve 342 00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:02,880 Speaker 1: would be the right word. So now this valve only 343 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:05,959 Speaker 1: allows fluid to pass out of the chamber. This pushes 344 00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:09,520 Speaker 1: it into the high pressure side of the air conditioning system. 345 00:19:09,560 --> 00:19:11,800 Speaker 1: So you're pulling from the low pressure pushing into the 346 00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:16,920 Speaker 1: high pressure. And both of these valves are essentially spring loaded, okay, 347 00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:19,200 Speaker 1: so there's a certain amount of pressure, that's a certain 348 00:19:19,240 --> 00:19:22,679 Speaker 1: amount of force that's created by the spring that the 349 00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:24,879 Speaker 1: system has to overcome in order for the valves to 350 00:19:24,960 --> 00:19:29,359 Speaker 1: open in either case. So you've got the piston down 351 00:19:29,359 --> 00:19:32,560 Speaker 1: at the bottom of this chamber, so it's down against 352 00:19:32,560 --> 00:19:36,600 Speaker 1: where the valves are. The piston starts to pull up, 353 00:19:37,160 --> 00:19:39,640 Speaker 1: all right. This this creates an area of low pressure, 354 00:19:40,080 --> 00:19:43,359 Speaker 1: which creates suction. Now, once that force of suction is 355 00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:48,440 Speaker 1: strong enough to overcome the spring force of the intake valve, 356 00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:52,560 Speaker 1: that valve will open. All right. So you're you're you're 357 00:19:52,600 --> 00:19:55,480 Speaker 1: pulling hard enough to overcome the force of that spring. 358 00:19:55,920 --> 00:19:59,760 Speaker 1: The valve opens, and that pulls the free on gas 359 00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:03,520 Speaker 1: in to that chamber. All right. Once the piston gets 360 00:20:03,560 --> 00:20:06,920 Speaker 1: to the top, it stops for a moment that allows 361 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:10,240 Speaker 1: the spring to close on the intake valve. It is 362 00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:13,280 Speaker 1: now there's no more fluid coming into the chamber, and 363 00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:16,080 Speaker 1: the valve itself is closed. The piston then starts to 364 00:20:16,920 --> 00:20:20,920 Speaker 1: move down. This starts to compress the gas inside the 365 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:23,919 Speaker 1: chamber eventually create you know, it starts to increase the pressure. 366 00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:26,199 Speaker 1: Eventually that pressure is going to be strong enough to 367 00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:30,359 Speaker 1: open up the discharge valve. The discharge valve opens, and 368 00:20:30,400 --> 00:20:32,200 Speaker 1: that means that the free on gets pushed into the 369 00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:34,800 Speaker 1: high pressure system. You might ask, well, why is that 370 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:37,520 Speaker 1: high pressure on that system. It's because at the end 371 00:20:37,560 --> 00:20:42,360 Speaker 1: of that side of the air condissuer system is that uh, 372 00:20:42,440 --> 00:20:46,960 Speaker 1: that expansion valve alright, the expansion valve is sort of 373 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:50,359 Speaker 1: a bottleneck point. And because you keep pressing more and 374 00:20:50,400 --> 00:20:53,960 Speaker 1: more gas into that side and the expansion valve only 375 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:56,000 Speaker 1: allows a little bit of that gas to escape at 376 00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:59,760 Speaker 1: a time, the pressure increases, right all right. Actually, and 377 00:21:00,119 --> 00:21:02,439 Speaker 1: at that point it's not really gas, it's liquid. But 378 00:21:02,440 --> 00:21:04,760 Speaker 1: we'll get there. So you've got the piston moving, and 379 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:07,159 Speaker 1: it's moving at an incredible speed. We're talking like a 380 00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:11,239 Speaker 1: thousand rpm, so a thousand repetitions per minute. So when 381 00:21:11,280 --> 00:21:14,600 Speaker 1: I'm talking about this process of the piston coming up, pausing, 382 00:21:14,640 --> 00:21:17,560 Speaker 1: and coming back down, it's doing that multiple times a second, 383 00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:22,320 Speaker 1: something like between seventeen and twenty times a second. Uh. So, 384 00:21:22,520 --> 00:21:26,280 Speaker 1: you're pulling that free on or other refrigerant through the 385 00:21:26,320 --> 00:21:30,400 Speaker 1: low pressure system into that chamber into the high pressure system. 386 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:34,000 Speaker 1: The this this gas, once it gets pressurized this way, 387 00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:37,960 Speaker 1: it starts to the temperature starts to climb. So now 388 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:40,919 Speaker 1: the temperature of the freon has increased, that's when it 389 00:21:40,960 --> 00:21:45,200 Speaker 1: starts to move through the condenser coils, and that's when 390 00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:49,639 Speaker 1: it starts to release heat to the environment. Now it 391 00:21:49,680 --> 00:21:52,119 Speaker 1: may release the heat directly to the environment. This is 392 00:21:52,119 --> 00:21:53,440 Speaker 1: why if you were ever to look at an air 393 00:21:53,440 --> 00:21:57,080 Speaker 1: conditioner outside and you see this this series of little 394 00:21:57,160 --> 00:22:00,600 Speaker 1: tubes that are kind of criss crossing, a wiggling back 395 00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:03,480 Speaker 1: and forth across a large surface area. Those are the 396 00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:06,440 Speaker 1: condenser coils. I think of them as metal intestines. There 397 00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:10,160 Speaker 1: you go, do not touch those. They are hot. And 398 00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:13,040 Speaker 1: the reason they are hot just because they're releasing heat 399 00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:16,040 Speaker 1: into that into the atmosphere. If this didn't work, then 400 00:22:16,160 --> 00:22:20,200 Speaker 1: air conditioners wouldn't work. So the heat starts to pull 401 00:22:20,240 --> 00:22:23,720 Speaker 1: off into the atmosphere. Meanwhile, the gas inside those tubes 402 00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:26,800 Speaker 1: that that temperature starts decrease because it's shedding the heat 403 00:22:26,840 --> 00:22:29,960 Speaker 1: off into the atmosphere. The gas starts to condense into 404 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:32,040 Speaker 1: a liquid. Now, the liquid by the time it gets 405 00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:36,359 Speaker 1: to the the the expansion valve at the end UM 406 00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:39,439 Speaker 1: has reached sort of a moderate temperature. It's no longer 407 00:22:39,520 --> 00:22:42,199 Speaker 1: as warm or as hot as the gas was in 408 00:22:42,280 --> 00:22:47,080 Speaker 1: the in the first part of this condenser coil series. Uh. Now, 409 00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:49,639 Speaker 1: the expansion valve will only allow, like I said, a 410 00:22:49,800 --> 00:22:53,120 Speaker 1: small amount of fluid through at a time, UM, and 411 00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:57,200 Speaker 1: that's what's allowing this pressure to build behind it. Once 412 00:22:57,240 --> 00:23:00,320 Speaker 1: it Once the liquid goes through and it is the 413 00:23:00,359 --> 00:23:03,800 Speaker 1: low pressure system that it's immediately starts to boil, so 414 00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:07,240 Speaker 1: it merely begins to convert into I guess that ends 415 00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:09,639 Speaker 1: up absorbing the heat from the air. And what you 416 00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:13,040 Speaker 1: have is a fan right at that section of the 417 00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:17,679 Speaker 1: air conditioner that blows this now cooled air into the 418 00:23:17,720 --> 00:23:21,639 Speaker 1: building or room or whatever. Okay, So the fan provides 419 00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:25,360 Speaker 1: the air movement so that this cold air can can 420 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:29,400 Speaker 1: make its way through the building and cool the entire environment. Yeah. 421 00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:32,479 Speaker 1: Without that ability, it would be semi useless. I mean 422 00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:37,199 Speaker 1: it would be yeah, exactly exactly. So you also have 423 00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:42,360 Speaker 1: an intake for to to pull air from the the 424 00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:46,199 Speaker 1: building so that it can be cooled in this section, right. 425 00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:48,320 Speaker 1: So you've got intakes and outakes. You've got the vents 426 00:23:48,359 --> 00:23:51,080 Speaker 1: that are pulling air uh in, and you've got the 427 00:23:51,119 --> 00:23:54,280 Speaker 1: vents that are pushing air out and uh you know, 428 00:23:54,480 --> 00:23:56,119 Speaker 1: depending on you know, a lot of a lot of 429 00:23:56,119 --> 00:23:59,679 Speaker 1: houses I've seen have the intake vents in the floor, right. 430 00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:03,040 Speaker 1: So it's pulling the warm air or it's it's pulling air. 431 00:24:03,359 --> 00:24:05,920 Speaker 1: It's putting cold air at the top to filter down 432 00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:10,880 Speaker 1: into the the um the house, and then it's pulling 433 00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:12,760 Speaker 1: air from the bottom. In order to cool it through 434 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:15,400 Speaker 1: the system. Right. Well, and if you uh, if you've 435 00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:17,680 Speaker 1: ever stood it right in front of an air conditioner 436 00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:20,399 Speaker 1: vent inside your house, you know that it can be 437 00:24:20,520 --> 00:24:24,120 Speaker 1: quite cold. Um. And it's even colder. And I don't 438 00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:26,320 Speaker 1: mean to say that it would be completely completely useless 439 00:24:26,359 --> 00:24:29,600 Speaker 1: without fans, because my grandmother's house had a window mounted 440 00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:33,520 Speaker 1: air conditioning it um. And of course you know that 441 00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:36,640 Speaker 1: would work just fine, but it wasn't circulating air through 442 00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:39,399 Speaker 1: the house is vents. It actually was you know, sitting 443 00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:42,439 Speaker 1: there in the window and working. Um. And let me 444 00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:45,760 Speaker 1: tell you, standing in front of that thing, uh, it 445 00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:48,360 Speaker 1: is a real blast of very cold air. It's kind 446 00:24:48,359 --> 00:24:51,040 Speaker 1: of it's actually uncomfortably cold. And that's one of the 447 00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:53,960 Speaker 1: reasons why you would want, uh the air to filter 448 00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:55,960 Speaker 1: down in the room like that. It's sort of diffuse 449 00:24:56,040 --> 00:24:58,879 Speaker 1: it with uh the air otherwise in the room and 450 00:24:58,920 --> 00:25:03,080 Speaker 1: sort of make it an it's comfortable a blast of 451 00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:07,280 Speaker 1: cold air, um. You know. But but that's just you know, 452 00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:09,520 Speaker 1: one of those things. And we also, I guess we 453 00:25:09,560 --> 00:25:12,479 Speaker 1: need to add in the fact that air conditioners are 454 00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:15,200 Speaker 1: really useful if you have a thermostat, yes, you don't 455 00:25:15,240 --> 00:25:16,919 Speaker 1: have to have a thermostat. You can have an air 456 00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:20,600 Speaker 1: conditioner that's essentially on or off, but a thermostat what 457 00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:24,199 Speaker 1: that will do is it's essentially a thermometers set with 458 00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:27,480 Speaker 1: a switch. So when a thermometer hits a certain level 459 00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:30,719 Speaker 1: or below, then the switch is turned off and the 460 00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:34,480 Speaker 1: system is shut down. When the temperature creeps up, it 461 00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:37,600 Speaker 1: activates the switch, turns the whole system on, and the 462 00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:40,560 Speaker 1: air conditioner kicks on. So that's that little clicking noise 463 00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:43,720 Speaker 1: you hear is when the temperature and the thermometer inside 464 00:25:43,760 --> 00:25:46,719 Speaker 1: your thermostat, like you've said it to say seventy two degrees, 465 00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:50,400 Speaker 1: and it creeps up to seventy three, that's the thermometer 466 00:25:50,520 --> 00:25:52,960 Speaker 1: then activates the switch. There's you hear the clicking noise 467 00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:56,280 Speaker 1: of the system turning on, and then shortly thereafter you 468 00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:58,680 Speaker 1: should hear the fans system blowing, unless, of course, you 469 00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:01,160 Speaker 1: have a really super quiet air conditioner, which is awesome, 470 00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:04,240 Speaker 1: but then you would start to feel the effects of 471 00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:06,520 Speaker 1: the a C and it happens pretty quickly. Like I 472 00:26:06,520 --> 00:26:09,399 Speaker 1: said this, this is the piston itself is moving in, 473 00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:14,240 Speaker 1: you know, an an incredible speed. So that's your basic 474 00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:17,600 Speaker 1: air conditioner. I skipped over a couple of little things, 475 00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:20,400 Speaker 1: like on the high pressure end, you usually have a 476 00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:25,240 Speaker 1: receiver tank holding tank for liquid refrigerant. That so, once 477 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:28,080 Speaker 1: it's been pressurized and condensed, it goes into this tank 478 00:26:28,200 --> 00:26:30,600 Speaker 1: and then moves from the tank further into the system 479 00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:33,680 Speaker 1: to eventually get to the valve um. And it can 480 00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:35,600 Speaker 1: get a little more complicated depending upon the nature of 481 00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:38,720 Speaker 1: the compressor. But that's the basic premise of an air conditioner. 482 00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:42,560 Speaker 1: Pretty awesome, really, Yeah, yeah, I know. It's it's an 483 00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:45,359 Speaker 1: ingenious invention. So now that you want to talk about 484 00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:48,280 Speaker 1: some of the alternatives, are you know, different types of 485 00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:54,080 Speaker 1: air conditioners, Well, yes, of course. Um building air conditioners work, uh, 486 00:26:54,119 --> 00:26:56,040 Speaker 1: you know, whole buildings like we're we're actually in an 487 00:26:56,080 --> 00:26:59,080 Speaker 1: office building, a very large office building with multiple floors, 488 00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:02,679 Speaker 1: and you know, you'll often see multiple units, like if 489 00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:05,240 Speaker 1: you fly over in an airplane you look at um, 490 00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:09,719 Speaker 1: like a big box warehouse store or something like an 491 00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:11,920 Speaker 1: office building like the one we're in, you'll see multiple 492 00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:16,040 Speaker 1: air conditioning units on top and condenser towers as well, yes, 493 00:27:16,320 --> 00:27:19,720 Speaker 1: which you know condenser tower Essentially that's just an area 494 00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:23,639 Speaker 1: that is specifically designated for condenser coils. It's to create 495 00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:28,720 Speaker 1: more surface area so that you can have a hotter 496 00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:33,760 Speaker 1: gas pump through those coils, and then the temperature will 497 00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:36,480 Speaker 1: decrease as it goes as it releases a heat to 498 00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:41,000 Speaker 1: the atmosphere. Remember that the temperature of that refrigerant is 499 00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:43,280 Speaker 1: going to vary. It's all gonna depend upon the type 500 00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:46,200 Speaker 1: of refrigerant that's being used, because different liquids boil off 501 00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:50,240 Speaker 1: and at different temperatures UM. And it's also going to 502 00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:53,320 Speaker 1: depend upon the strength of the compressor because the more 503 00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:56,680 Speaker 1: you pressurize that that fluid, the higher that temperature is 504 00:27:56,720 --> 00:27:59,200 Speaker 1: going to be. So if you're using like an industrial 505 00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:02,760 Speaker 1: strength air conditioner, it's probably going to be compressing that 506 00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:04,919 Speaker 1: fluid and using a different type of refrigerant that's going 507 00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:07,880 Speaker 1: to get in a much higher temperature than a home 508 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:10,800 Speaker 1: unit would have. Therefore, you need more surface area to 509 00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:13,840 Speaker 1: release that heat into the atmosphere and condense it into 510 00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:19,480 Speaker 1: a liquid. What's up home unit? Um? Now. According to 511 00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:22,840 Speaker 1: our article on how stuff works dot com um, a 512 00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:25,320 Speaker 1: lot of larger buildings do use a chilled water system, 513 00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:29,600 Speaker 1: which basically, uh, well, you have a problem with see 514 00:28:29,600 --> 00:28:31,359 Speaker 1: because if you have all those units on the roof, 515 00:28:31,760 --> 00:28:33,280 Speaker 1: then what happens to the people on you know, and 516 00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:36,280 Speaker 1: let's say a fifteen story building, Uh, what happens to 517 00:28:36,320 --> 00:28:38,320 Speaker 1: all those people on the second floor, a third floor, 518 00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:40,880 Speaker 1: because that's a long way to go. So what they 519 00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:46,600 Speaker 1: do is essentially they they uh and in a oversimplification 520 00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:48,920 Speaker 1: as I'm want to do on this show, basically, they 521 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:52,840 Speaker 1: transfer the the cooling effect to water and then the 522 00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:57,960 Speaker 1: chilled water is pumped through the building. UM and uh, 523 00:28:58,040 --> 00:29:00,680 Speaker 1: you know that's just that's just the basics. Um. But 524 00:29:01,680 --> 00:29:05,080 Speaker 1: um apparently takes water down to between around forty and 525 00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:08,360 Speaker 1: forty five degrees fahrenheit, which is four point four and 526 00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:11,560 Speaker 1: seven point two degrees celsius. And it's just you know, 527 00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:14,200 Speaker 1: connect they pump the chilled water through and it and 528 00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:17,760 Speaker 1: it goes to those are connected to air handlers. Um. 529 00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:20,360 Speaker 1: And these are closed systems. Yeah, and you have to 530 00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:23,840 Speaker 1: you have to insulate those pipes too, because otherwise the 531 00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:28,480 Speaker 1: uh you know, cold water inside the pipes, um, they 532 00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:30,960 Speaker 1: will lose their coolant to you know, as they travel 533 00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:35,520 Speaker 1: throughout the building around. So you can't really do that. 534 00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:40,480 Speaker 1: But um, yeah, there are also some ice systems where 535 00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:43,680 Speaker 1: you essentially what you do is you have an enormous 536 00:29:43,720 --> 00:29:48,040 Speaker 1: tank on the top of a building. This really works 537 00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:50,560 Speaker 1: for for large buildings, not for houses. But you would 538 00:29:50,560 --> 00:29:53,840 Speaker 1: have a a storage tank that would hold water. You 539 00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:58,280 Speaker 1: would freeze that water at night when electricity rates are lower, 540 00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:02,280 Speaker 1: so it's more it's not gonna cost as much to 541 00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:04,760 Speaker 1: UH to actually freeze it. But you freeze that water, 542 00:30:05,240 --> 00:30:07,640 Speaker 1: and then in the daytime as the water as you've 543 00:30:07,680 --> 00:30:09,720 Speaker 1: got this big old block of ice, you have fans 544 00:30:10,320 --> 00:30:14,360 Speaker 1: blow air against the ice, which creates this chilled air, 545 00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:18,120 Speaker 1: that conditioned air that you can then can circulate either 546 00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:21,240 Speaker 1: through the building or you use it again to chill 547 00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:24,800 Speaker 1: another water line that circulates through the building and thus 548 00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:28,720 Speaker 1: cools the building. UM. This is a pretty inexpensive way 549 00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:32,800 Speaker 1: to create air conditioning once you've got the system in place. 550 00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:35,720 Speaker 1: But putting the system in place is quite expensive, indeed, 551 00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:39,479 Speaker 1: because you're talking about building a pretty enormous tank and 552 00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:43,560 Speaker 1: it's it's it's not cheap to build, but once it's there, 553 00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:47,680 Speaker 1: it tends to be less expensive than running a conventional 554 00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:52,320 Speaker 1: air conditioner. And of course, down at Turner Field here 555 00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:56,200 Speaker 1: in Atlanta, which is where the Atlanta Braves baseball team plays, UM, 556 00:30:56,240 --> 00:31:00,880 Speaker 1: there's a space outside where UM they spray water and 557 00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:04,080 Speaker 1: the fans can walk through that area and it you know, 558 00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:06,680 Speaker 1: you don't get I guess you get a little damp. 559 00:31:06,800 --> 00:31:09,960 Speaker 1: But the effect is the cooling effect because it's you know, 560 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:15,320 Speaker 1: they atomized water feels you know, it's it's sort of 561 00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:18,080 Speaker 1: like sweat actually when you know, when it evaporates, it 562 00:31:18,080 --> 00:31:20,480 Speaker 1: makes you feel better. Well that they used to, uh, 563 00:31:20,520 --> 00:31:24,560 Speaker 1: they used to do that in the nineteenth century textile industry, um, 564 00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:27,480 Speaker 1: because they were using it for humidification and cooling purposes. 565 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:31,920 Speaker 1: According to Britannica UM. But in India a long time ago, 566 00:31:31,920 --> 00:31:36,400 Speaker 1: they used to hang wet grass mats over their windows, 567 00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:40,240 Speaker 1: basically doing the same thing. It was the evaporating water 568 00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:44,320 Speaker 1: would uh would cool down the room, it cools down 569 00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:48,400 Speaker 1: the surrounding air. Um. Because again, the in order to evaporate, 570 00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:51,840 Speaker 1: the water needs energy. So the water is taking energy 571 00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:54,040 Speaker 1: from the air around at the heat from the air 572 00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:57,800 Speaker 1: around it, and then you have air that has it's cooler. 573 00:31:57,840 --> 00:32:01,640 Speaker 1: It's the heat has been transferred to the water utter um. Yeah, 574 00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:05,479 Speaker 1: Benjamin Franklin actually looked into this as a way of 575 00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:09,480 Speaker 1: cooling systems and uh, he kind of figured it out 576 00:32:09,880 --> 00:32:11,920 Speaker 1: as well. And you know, it's been. It's been in 577 00:32:12,040 --> 00:32:16,000 Speaker 1: use for millennia. Ancient Egyptians have been doing this, you know, 578 00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:19,560 Speaker 1: Well ancient Egyptians aren't doing it anymore. They're not doing 579 00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:22,400 Speaker 1: much of anything other than, you know, hanging out in museums. 580 00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:25,680 Speaker 1: But anyway, the which I do too, but I'm actually 581 00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:27,880 Speaker 1: a little more lively anyway, I'm getting off track again, 582 00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:31,680 Speaker 1: thank you. So this actually brings us to what I 583 00:32:31,680 --> 00:32:35,680 Speaker 1: had mentioned earlier, the swamp coolers. So swamp coolers work 584 00:32:35,720 --> 00:32:37,680 Speaker 1: on this system. And you might wonder why they're called 585 00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:41,520 Speaker 1: swamp coolers. Well, it's probably because they can smell a 586 00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:46,160 Speaker 1: little swampy if you don't maintain them properly. They actually 587 00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:49,360 Speaker 1: do not work very well in humid environments, and I'll 588 00:32:49,360 --> 00:32:52,120 Speaker 1: explain why in a minute. The process of a swamp 589 00:32:52,120 --> 00:32:54,760 Speaker 1: cooler is kind of interesting. What essentially what you're doing 590 00:32:54,800 --> 00:32:57,800 Speaker 1: is you're pulling warm air from outside. You're blowing that 591 00:32:57,840 --> 00:33:02,960 Speaker 1: warm air through a a chamber that has usually moist 592 00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:05,400 Speaker 1: pads in it. So you've got like some sort of 593 00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:09,640 Speaker 1: padding material that has water. Um, it's soaked with water. 594 00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:14,920 Speaker 1: The warm air causes the water to evaporate. In that process, 595 00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:18,200 Speaker 1: the air itself loses some of its heat and then 596 00:33:18,720 --> 00:33:23,280 Speaker 1: uh a fan blows the cooler air into the environment, 597 00:33:23,320 --> 00:33:25,760 Speaker 1: into the house or whatever. Now, this is different from 598 00:33:25,800 --> 00:33:28,200 Speaker 1: an air conditioner in several ways. One of them is, 599 00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:31,200 Speaker 1: like I said before, an air conditioned system and is 600 00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:34,480 Speaker 1: a closed system, not just from the free on but 601 00:33:34,600 --> 00:33:37,040 Speaker 1: also the air inside the building. If you open up 602 00:33:37,080 --> 00:33:39,040 Speaker 1: a window or open up a door inside an air 603 00:33:39,040 --> 00:33:42,040 Speaker 1: conditioned house, you know, you'll you'll hear like your mom 604 00:33:42,040 --> 00:33:44,560 Speaker 1: will yell, you're letting out all the air conditioning. Well, 605 00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:46,800 Speaker 1: that's that's actually true because what it's doing, because it's 606 00:33:46,840 --> 00:33:49,480 Speaker 1: recycling the air inside that system. So if you open 607 00:33:49,560 --> 00:33:53,480 Speaker 1: up stuff, it's you're losing that that uh you're you're 608 00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:56,560 Speaker 1: causing the air condition to work harder in order to 609 00:33:56,600 --> 00:34:00,120 Speaker 1: try and get to the right uh temperature. Also, what 610 00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:02,240 Speaker 1: were you raised in the barn? Right? Do you think 611 00:34:02,280 --> 00:34:05,840 Speaker 1: we're air conditioning the whole neighborhood. Uh So a swamp 612 00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:08,160 Speaker 1: cooler though, it's pulling air from outside and pushing it 613 00:34:08,200 --> 00:34:10,480 Speaker 1: into the environment, So you actually have to have a 614 00:34:10,560 --> 00:34:14,000 Speaker 1: window or door open or to have air circulation, otherwise 615 00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:16,200 Speaker 1: you're just pumping air into a house until it explodes. 616 00:34:16,880 --> 00:34:21,880 Speaker 1: It's not entirely true. Not entirely. Yeah, it doesn't actually 617 00:34:21,880 --> 00:34:26,120 Speaker 1: have it that way, but you have exactly. Man reminds 618 00:34:26,120 --> 00:34:28,080 Speaker 1: me of my house. But anyway, you have to you 619 00:34:28,120 --> 00:34:30,560 Speaker 1: have to open up a window really to have this 620 00:34:30,640 --> 00:34:33,600 Speaker 1: be effective. So it's pulling this hot air from the environment, 621 00:34:33,640 --> 00:34:37,400 Speaker 1: pushing it through a chamber that has these moist uh 622 00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:41,600 Speaker 1: padding things inside of It depends on, you know, the 623 00:34:41,680 --> 00:34:44,200 Speaker 1: kind of swamp cooler exactly what form it makes, but 624 00:34:44,239 --> 00:34:48,480 Speaker 1: pads moist pads um evaporates the air, cools, the evaporates 625 00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:51,839 Speaker 1: the water cools the air, and then the cooler air 626 00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:54,120 Speaker 1: polls is pushed in through by a fan into the 627 00:34:54,440 --> 00:34:58,880 Speaker 1: into the house or whatever. Now this only works in 628 00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:02,040 Speaker 1: really dry and ironments, and the reason for that is 629 00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:04,040 Speaker 1: that the temperature of the air is going to be 630 00:35:04,280 --> 00:35:09,960 Speaker 1: different between the regular dry bulb air, which is the 631 00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:13,240 Speaker 1: temperature of the air as it is, and the wet 632 00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:16,319 Speaker 1: bulb air, which is the temperature of the air if 633 00:35:16,360 --> 00:35:20,960 Speaker 1: it were a humidity all right. So the greater that difference, 634 00:35:21,080 --> 00:35:23,799 Speaker 1: the more a swamp cooler will cool a building. So 635 00:35:23,840 --> 00:35:26,320 Speaker 1: if you're in a very dry spot, let's say Las Vegas. 636 00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:30,680 Speaker 1: Las Vegas is pretty dry, the difference between the air's 637 00:35:30,719 --> 00:35:34,799 Speaker 1: temperature at its normal state, and the air's temperature if 638 00:35:34,840 --> 00:35:38,960 Speaker 1: it had a humidity will be pretty large. Yeah, then 639 00:35:39,239 --> 00:35:42,520 Speaker 1: using a swamp cooler means that that difference in temperature 640 00:35:42,520 --> 00:35:45,799 Speaker 1: will essentially result in a cooling effect. They can get 641 00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:49,960 Speaker 1: a house down to around say seventy two degrees, which 642 00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:53,680 Speaker 1: is a comfortable temperature for most people. Now, if you 643 00:35:53,719 --> 00:35:56,520 Speaker 1: were in a very high humid area like say, I 644 00:35:56,560 --> 00:36:00,319 Speaker 1: don't know, Atlanta, Georgia, where the humidity can be or radar, 645 00:36:00,840 --> 00:36:04,399 Speaker 1: the difference between the dry bulb air, which let's say 646 00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:07,200 Speaker 1: it's at that eight percent humidity, and the wet bulb air, 647 00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:10,839 Speaker 1: which is a percent humidity is small. The difference is 648 00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:14,759 Speaker 1: not significant really, and so you are not going to 649 00:36:14,760 --> 00:36:17,480 Speaker 1: get a big cooling effect from a swamp cooler. You 650 00:36:17,560 --> 00:36:19,840 Speaker 1: may just feel like, oh, the hot air in my 651 00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:22,760 Speaker 1: house is being replaced by slightly less hot air coming 652 00:36:22,840 --> 00:36:26,799 Speaker 1: from this cooling system. That's not not more comfortable, it's 653 00:36:26,840 --> 00:36:31,680 Speaker 1: just not as hot. So swamp coolers can work great 654 00:36:31,920 --> 00:36:34,480 Speaker 1: if you are in a very dry place, a dry, 655 00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:39,960 Speaker 1: hot place, um, and if you're in a stifling hot, 656 00:36:40,040 --> 00:36:43,440 Speaker 1: wet place like like most of the southeast most of 657 00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:47,160 Speaker 1: the Eastern seaboard. Really in the United States, I should say, yeah, 658 00:36:47,160 --> 00:36:49,520 Speaker 1: there are many other places around the world that would 659 00:36:49,560 --> 00:36:52,080 Speaker 1: have similar problems. Yes, yes, this is true. It's not 660 00:36:52,160 --> 00:36:53,879 Speaker 1: just us. It's just easy for me to talk about 661 00:36:53,920 --> 00:36:55,399 Speaker 1: because I have a lot of experience on the East 662 00:36:55,480 --> 00:36:59,080 Speaker 1: Coast the United States of America. Um, swamp coolers are 663 00:36:59,160 --> 00:37:01,600 Speaker 1: not the best choice for you, Yeah, they're there are 664 00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:04,719 Speaker 1: problems with I mean, my father told me about someone 665 00:37:04,800 --> 00:37:08,000 Speaker 1: he knew who tried to essentially a modernized version of 666 00:37:08,040 --> 00:37:13,000 Speaker 1: the grass matt technique. And you know, blowing air through 667 00:37:13,040 --> 00:37:15,920 Speaker 1: your house in a high humidity climate when you've been 668 00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:20,040 Speaker 1: you know, pumping water down this you know surface, basically 669 00:37:20,120 --> 00:37:23,200 Speaker 1: you're just adding more humidity and it's closed off, which 670 00:37:23,239 --> 00:37:26,359 Speaker 1: makes mold and mildew a problem. Yeah, and it's yeah, 671 00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:29,839 Speaker 1: there's also that there isn't with regular air conditioning. My 672 00:37:29,880 --> 00:37:33,560 Speaker 1: basement is the top floor of my house is you know, 673 00:37:33,719 --> 00:37:37,480 Speaker 1: pretty decently comfortable, but downstairs is like a meat locker. 674 00:37:38,080 --> 00:37:40,400 Speaker 1: And uh, we actually run a d humidifier in the 675 00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:43,239 Speaker 1: summer because it can get sort of musty down there. 676 00:37:43,320 --> 00:37:46,480 Speaker 1: So yeah, and uh, really, when you when the air 677 00:37:46,560 --> 00:37:48,600 Speaker 1: is saturated with water, I mean we're talking about a 678 00:37:48,640 --> 00:37:51,080 Speaker 1: hundred percent humidity. When the air is saturate with water, 679 00:37:51,120 --> 00:37:53,200 Speaker 1: then you're not going to add more water to that system. 680 00:37:53,280 --> 00:37:56,200 Speaker 1: So that's why the swamp cooler won't be effective at 681 00:37:56,239 --> 00:37:58,880 Speaker 1: that point. It's also why if you are in the 682 00:37:58,920 --> 00:38:01,040 Speaker 1: southeast of the unit It States and it's a very 683 00:38:01,120 --> 00:38:04,239 Speaker 1: humid day, you might start sweating, but you don't feel 684 00:38:04,239 --> 00:38:07,719 Speaker 1: any cooler because the sweat is not really evaporating off 685 00:38:07,760 --> 00:38:11,120 Speaker 1: your skin. It's just accumulating because the air is already 686 00:38:11,120 --> 00:38:15,040 Speaker 1: so saturated with moisture. That's that you can't you can't 687 00:38:15,080 --> 00:38:18,719 Speaker 1: add to it. That makes me feel even warmer, right right. 688 00:38:18,760 --> 00:38:21,920 Speaker 1: That's why you will often hear the phrase it's not 689 00:38:21,960 --> 00:38:25,240 Speaker 1: the heat, it's the humidity, and then you immediately punched 690 00:38:25,280 --> 00:38:28,600 Speaker 1: that person out. It's uously followed by vio. I have 691 00:38:28,680 --> 00:38:31,839 Speaker 1: been punched in the face many times. When I've talked 692 00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:33,680 Speaker 1: to my friends out west. We're like, yeah, well, it's 693 00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:35,880 Speaker 1: a hard or fifteen degrees out here in Texas, And 694 00:38:35,920 --> 00:38:38,719 Speaker 1: I said, well, it's you know, only degrees here, But 695 00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:43,360 Speaker 1: you know it's not the heat, it's the humidity in Texas. 696 00:38:43,680 --> 00:38:47,480 Speaker 1: They like to punch yeah, yeah, cattle. Sometimes I end 697 00:38:47,560 --> 00:38:49,960 Speaker 1: up sometimes Jonathan, It's it's terrible. I mean it's just 698 00:38:49,960 --> 00:38:54,880 Speaker 1: blood and barbecue sauce everywhere. It's it's a horrible thing. Anyway, 699 00:38:54,960 --> 00:38:56,840 Speaker 1: that's all I have. Do you have anything else you 700 00:38:56,840 --> 00:39:00,200 Speaker 1: wanted to add before we kind of wrap this up? Nope? Cool, Well, 701 00:39:00,280 --> 00:39:07,560 Speaker 1: well I did not. Yeah, that was totally unintentional. Guys, 702 00:39:08,080 --> 00:39:09,880 Speaker 1: that was well. First of all, Ted, thank you so 703 00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:12,400 Speaker 1: much for that request. That was great. We had a 704 00:39:12,440 --> 00:39:15,040 Speaker 1: fantastic discussion. We talked about one of our really cool 705 00:39:15,120 --> 00:39:16,759 Speaker 1: articles on the site. Like I said, if you guys 706 00:39:16,760 --> 00:39:19,279 Speaker 1: want to learn more about this, go find how air 707 00:39:19,320 --> 00:39:22,640 Speaker 1: conditioners work at how stuff works dot com because there's 708 00:39:22,640 --> 00:39:26,360 Speaker 1: a great article on that, and and really this is 709 00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:27,840 Speaker 1: one of those things that we a lot of us 710 00:39:27,880 --> 00:39:30,880 Speaker 1: take for granted, but it is a pretty cool application 711 00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:32,920 Speaker 1: of science and technology, and I thought it was a 712 00:39:32,960 --> 00:39:36,239 Speaker 1: really nice topic to tackle. So thanks a lot. If 713 00:39:36,280 --> 00:39:38,640 Speaker 1: you guys have any suggestions for topics that you would 714 00:39:38,640 --> 00:39:40,880 Speaker 1: like us to talk about, you can let us know 715 00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:44,200 Speaker 1: an email. Our address is text stuff at how stuff 716 00:39:44,200 --> 00:39:47,520 Speaker 1: works dot com, or contact us on Facebook or Twitter 717 00:39:47,640 --> 00:39:50,680 Speaker 1: and the handle there is tech stuff h s W. 718 00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:53,320 Speaker 1: Chris and I will talk to you again really soon. 719 00:39:55,920 --> 00:39:58,480 Speaker 1: Be sure to check out our new video podcast, Stuff 720 00:39:58,520 --> 00:40:01,560 Speaker 1: from the Future. Join how Stuffork staff as we explore 721 00:40:01,600 --> 00:40:06,200 Speaker 1: the most promising and perplexing possibilities of tomorrow. The house. 722 00:40:06,200 --> 00:40:10,000 Speaker 1: Stuff Work's iPhone app has arrived. Download it today on iTunes. 723 00:40:14,560 --> 00:40:17,200 Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 724 00:40:17,440 --> 00:40:18,560 Speaker 1: It's ready, are you