Just how cool is air conditioning?
10 things you may not know about air con
For many of us, air conditioning is part of our daily lives. From workplaces and shopping malls, to cinemas and hospitals, many spaces and public places are regulated by air conditioning systems. EPT offers a wide range of air conditioning technology. We are specialists in all kinds of systems and we’ve put together 10 ‘quite interesting’ facts about air conditioning, its history and development.
1. The first recorded instances of air conditioning were in ancient Egypt, with the concept of reeds hung from windows and moistened with water trickling down them. As the water evaporated it cooled the air being blown through the room.
2. Many scientists experimented with ice cooling machines and ways of cooling air inside buildings, including Michael Faraday, who, in 1920, discovered that by compressing and liquefying ammonia, he could chill air when the liquefied ammonia evaporated.
3. The inventor of what we now recognise as the modern electrical air conditioning unit and its industry is the American inventor, Willis H. Carrier. The first air conditioning machinery, designed and built in Buffalo, New York by Carrier, began cooling air on 17 July 1902.
4. The phrase ‘air conditioning’ was coined in 1906 by Stuart W. Cramer, who was looking at ways to add moisture to the air in his textile mill. He combined moisture with ventilation to ‘condition’ the air in his factories.
5. The ducting and ventilation systems of modern air conditioning also date back to ancient times. The ancient Romans used a system called a hypocaust. This relied on a network of ducts and tubes under the floors of buildings, which allowed hot air from a central furnace to regulate the temperature in rooms.
6. In the UK we are experiencing increasing extremes of weather – hotter, more humid summers and colder, harder winters – which makes air conditioning ever more important today. The UK officially recorded its highest ever temperature in Cambridge on 25 July 2019. The Met Office confirmed that in Cambridge University Botanic Garden the temperature was 38.7C (101.7F), which beat the previous UK record of 38.5C (101.3F) in Kent in 2003.
7. The first private home to have air conditioning was built in Minneapolis in the state of Minnesota in 1914. The unit was about seven-foot high, six-foot wide and 20-foot long – not the handiest, most compact bit of kit!
8. It wasn’t until 1931 that H.H. Schultz and J.Q. Sherman invented the considerably smaller and more compact individual air condition unit. When it was mass produced, it was small enough to sit on a window ledge and the essential design remains the concept behind individual room units still sold today.
9. In 1939 the Packard automobile company was the first to put an air-conditioning unit in a car. Air conditioning is now commonplace in cars, but in the 1930s and ‘40s you would have been travelling in considerable luxury to have air con in transit.
10. In the days before environmental concerns and Health & Safety, the first air conditioners and refrigerators employed toxic or flammable gases, such as ammonia, methyl chloride or propane. These could result in fatal accidents when they leaked.
We’ve come a long way since then, with air conditioning units today operating under stringent F-gas regulations that ensure a safer environment for all. Contact us today to find out how we can help you overcome any air conditioning challenges.