Generic sized booth with 6-8 projectors and an AC system...but the theater is in Texas and the AC was underspec'd from day one and simply cannot cool the place down once the equipment starts to run. (Or in other words, the AC was spec'd out for an empty room, then the theater brought in a bunch of "heaters" that they call "projection equipment".) The end result is that the one HVAC unit never ever shuts off and if it gets as low as 80F it's an amazing day. Booth temperatures in the 90s and over 100F are not uncommon.

What kind of $$$ would the theater be looking at to install a second HVAC unit to help split the load? What are the benefits (obvious benefits as well as benefits that may not have been considered) as well as any disadvantages (obvious and not obvious here too)?

I've serviced these places and have gotten so hot that I started getting dizzy with a tremendous headache and felt like I was about to pass out, yet these theaters run like this on a daily basis! Just sitting still in a T-shirt and shorts, you can not keep from sweating. Even the projectors with the small 2000 watt lamps (some use up to 7000) will burn your hand if you touch them within 10 minutes of the film dropping. The lamphouses will also burn your hand if you hold it against the side door for more than a few seconds. (Before you scream "proper exhaust", bear in mind a couple of these theaters do not want to spend the money to exhaust the heat from the lamphouses either, so it just gets blasted into the projection room or up above the ceiling grid.)

Really, this is just ridiculous. I don't know how those projectionists have kept themselves from outright murdering the corporate guys that don't care enough about their people to provide them with a decent working environment.

If they would have done it right in the first place, their bottom line would be a better figure because a higher moral of the employees and the staggering reduction of equipment maintenance costs.

They just don't get it until THEIR plush office HVAC quits! Then they scream like a stuck pig!

Corporates know what they are doing. I'll bet that if a person investigates this, they will find that some HVAC contractors will force the end user to sign a statement to the effect that the system is under-rated, and the warrenty of the equipment is basically void.

I have been told of several instances where this has happened.

Maintaining a consistent comfortable temperature (less than 78F) is also good for the electronic equipment.

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: +1 585 477 5325 Cell: +1 585 781 4036 Fax: +1 585 722 7243
e-mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

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Samuel Hunter Sr.

Death to DLP (Video)

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It sounds like you're describing the Furneaux Creek. On any given day the temp in the booth is never less than 80 degrees. (This MAY be exhaust related or not since I can't get on the roof to check the fans for proper operation).

Unfortunatly many times the HVAC system was over looked in many theaters here in Texas. Typically the design firms were based in a northern state, and thus the engineers designed the building for what they knew. Prime example is the AMC Grand. They had to spend close to $100,000 if I remember right, to add additional cooling to the building.

I would imagine that there COULD be a few cost effective ways to tackle this problem. Perhaps a system with the compressor and condensor on the roof, and the evaporator inside, much like what's used for Walk-in Freezers some Ice makers etc (much like a residental system). That way only a rather small hole must be cut in the roof.

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The managers seldom realized the booth had additional heat sources from the lamphouse and sound rack, and claimed my setting was freezing them. Then patrons and floor staff used to reset the thermostat according to their whims or sense of mischief. To correct this the manager had a metal locked box installed over the thermostat.
I managed to get a duplicate key from an A/C repairman. Once a crappy digital battery-operated thermostat capable of 24 separate cycle settings was installed and promptly ceased working. No one knew how to set it, or set it in a different way. Finally I got the A/C men to install a simple round Honeywell thermostat, but the real change was a change of manager.