Chris_R Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 Hi,I have a few summer events coming up in my church which is a pretty small venue (26m Length, 14m Width, 6m Height and the stage area is 10m x 6m)with no air-con. It tends to get very hot, very quickly!Our main concern is that in the rare event we get a hot day in the summer, how we are going to keep the venue cool with the lights on and upto 400 people jumping around? (apart from opening windows & doors etc as we'll will be opening these!)We are considering taking out a few of the false ceiling tiles in order to let the cooler air in from the roof space, and hiring a couple of fans to circulate the air around the stage area. Do you think these would be adequate? maybe one on each side downstage, pointing upstage?Thanks,Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lightnix Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 There's a danger that all they'll do in the end is blow hot air around. Have you thought of hiring in some temporary aircon, from somebody like Rapid Heatbusters? They have a section on their site which helps work out what you will need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
computer Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 The local school here hired out 4 aircon units last time they had a 'big' event. I don't think they were that much, but I don't have any more details than that. Although they were very effective! (one either side of stage in the wings and 2 more at the back of the hall)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orchytech Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 Not a cheap solution but could you look at hiring some LED fixtures as part of your lighting rig? Much cooler but expensive. Orchytech Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lightnix Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 Not a cheap solution but could you look at hiring some LED fixtures as part of your lighting rig? Much cooler but expensive.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>True, but the main source of heat will be the punters themselves (the equivalent of a 1kW electric bar heater each, isn't it ?). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted January 23, 2005 Share Posted January 23, 2005 Actually, when calculating cooling loads, it's more like 100 watts per person. I'd look at a couple of things. First, renting some portable AC units as already discussed. For a day or two the price is not prohibitive...but do check out the noise levels of the fans. Some can sound like tanks. Second, and almost as important, try to get some extraction going to suck the hot air out the top of things. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_R Posted January 23, 2005 Author Share Posted January 23, 2005 Thanks for your help.Im now looking into hiring a few air con units, they definantly seem the best way to go. probably four of them (two front/stage, two middle/back seems a good idea) but il do the calculations when I have had another meeting with the organisers. Cheers,Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce Posted January 23, 2005 Share Posted January 23, 2005 I looked at portable aircon units (for a completely different application - temporary cooling of an IT suite when the main units failed) just before christmas. Cost was around 80+VAT+delivery per week for a medium-sized portable unit. Can't remember exactly, but I think that had about 2-3kW capacity. Ballpark figures: 400 people at 100W each - that's 40kW, assuming they don't jump about too much :-). Now add the heat output from your lights etc, and take off a bit because the doors and windows are open. Also bear in mind that your aircon units will need a reasonably hefty power supply. I'm not discounting it totally, but I'd be inclined to look at other options. Never underestimate the benefits of mechanical ventilation. Having big fans in the area might just move the warm air around, but a good supply/extract system can make a big difference. Think about airflow, ingress and egress. Don't arrange for the supply and extract to be in the same corner :-) At work, we have one room ( an IT facility,a small room) with about 6Kw of equipment in it. It's not a critical facility, and aircon isn't appropriate - mechanical ventilation is adequate. So we got contractors to install ducting, fans and external vents. It worked very well - temperature inside was always a few degrees higher than outside, but not excessively so. Then it started to get really hot. The maintenance contractors sent in a pair of trained monkeys to investigate, and they couldn't work out what was wrong - every time they checked, there was always cold air blowing in the ducts, but as soon as they left the temp would climb up. When we looked more closely, we discovered that they had fitted one fan back-to-front, so BOTH were blowing (or sucking - can't remember). It was fine when the guys were investigating, cos the door was open. But when the door was shut, both fans worked against each other, so no net airflow.... Bruce. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_R Posted January 23, 2005 Author Share Posted January 23, 2005 Good points. Going to have to look into the power requirements (I didnt think of that one...doh!). If we did go down the air con route I'd more then likely need a generator as the church only has a 100 amp line ( :blink: ) so the cost will very soon be bumped up.I'll look into prices and see.Il see if I can get some room plans, with windows and fire exits and post links to them tomorrow if I can.Thanks,Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce Posted January 23, 2005 Share Posted January 23, 2005 Ballpark figures - an aircon unit with X kW cooling capacity will require a mains supply of around X/3 kW. Yes, I know the language is very unscientific... but I'm not in the mood for thermodynamics.... :-) Bruce. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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