Conference 7.286::digital

    Well, last summer we had some brown-outs and had to cut lighting levels
    and all air conditioning except for the computer rooms in LTN. 
    We stripped to the minimum level of clothing possible while maintaining
    some semblance of decorum.  (Course it is an engineering facility,
    so some semblance of decorum is about the best we do even under
    more favorable circumstances.)
    
    Jokes about peoples taste in leisure wear and leg appearance help
    relieve some of the suffering.
    
    /Dave
    
    

    In the Southwest, always a less formal environment anyhow, things
    like suitjackets or sports jackets are impossible in the summertime.
    For males, a tie and shortsleeved white shirt work fine. Natural 
    fabrics only, polyester doesn't make it (not that it does anyhow).
    
    karl moeller sws tucson az (lower sonoran desert sw support)

    One problem I have seen in both new (LKG) and old (MLO) is that
    owning a workstation is not necessarily a blessing. The micovaxen
    dispense heat into the office. If everyone in your area (like mine)
    have microvaxen the tempurature in the office area tends to be,as
    much as, 10 - 15 degrees hotter than areas where just vt terminals
    live. The problem is that the air conditioning systems can't compensate
    to a granularuty smaller than one whole floor. So we end up with
    half a floor somewhat uncomfortable adnd half a floor freezing.
    
       I do not know the solution.

    Real BIG fans in the case?  Noise level might get a little rough,
    but the air circulation would improve.

    I guess this note just proves the English fixation with the
    weather.  We have had two months of really atrocious late spring/
    early summer weather, and then the sun shines for one day,
    and people complain...... Oh well.
    
    Seriously, I know how difficult it can be coping with *hot* weather
    when you are not used to it. All I can suggest is lobby ypur boss
    **very** hard for better air conditioning. There are portable units
    available UK CAS in City Wall House, Reading have/had a couple
    before they moved to the new Queens Building, If you have a window
    available to drop the exhaust hose out, this may be a solution.
    
    [Thinks : does your boss (or his boss) sit in an office on the
    edge of the open plan area, with *windows* he can open, so he
    doen't get too hot? - no, of course not....		:^)   ]
    
    BTW - .2 sounds a good environment - any international relocation
    available for RSTS V7 or application specialists?
    
    Peter	(From_sunny_Reading_in_sunny_England)
    
    

    I keep a small fan on my desk (~8 inchs, I think).  When hot, just
    flip the switch and BINGO - instant circulating air!

-Andy

    re. .3 :  The proper wording would be "CHEAP air conditioning systems
    cannot deal..."   Good air conditioning systems can have many
    thermostats located wherever you want them. Each thermostat will
    control one air valve of some sort (mixing box in a dual duct system,
    variable volume valve in a single duct system) that feeds anything
    from a single office to an area.  This is particularly good for
    buildings with lots of glass where perimiter sun heating causes
    variations in interior/perimiter cooling loads, and buildings where
    lots of heat may be generated locally (computer room).  If anyone
    is really interested, go to your library and brouse the ASHRAE Guide
    and Databook, Fundamentals and/or Systems volume(s).  Systems with
    lots of thermostats/control valves  are much more expensive than
    the everybody-gets-the-same-thing systems.  - Chris

    Incredible!  We've been going through the same thing here in Minnesota!
    We've got (theoretically) a "good" air conditioning system.  It DON'T
    keep our area cool.  
    
    In addition, on weekends they reduce the air conditioning to a minimum
    and let the building get to sweatbox temperatures -- easily in the high
    80's.  On Monday morning they try to cool the building off -- with the
    sun streaming in through the glass building sides -- and being blocked
    BY THE BLACK WINDOW SHADES!!!!!!!  Usually makes it to the 70's
    by Wednesday.
    
    Couple this up with a few workstations and management (their
    offices are cool) that feels that decorum definitely does not mean
    shorts and tee-shirts...
    
    Dave P

    
    Wow, Dare I say it... but this note seems to be *HOTTING* up !
    ( Groan, Get off, Rubbish etc. etc... I hear you all say with
    rotten tomatoes poised and ready to mob me...! :) )
    
    Well let me answer a few quickies that seem to have arisen here,
    since my last 'sweaty' bash on the keyboard...
    
    The problem here in DECpark II, has been going on for about a year
    and a half now; but still no-one seems to be able to resolve it
    ( It's probally the heat..! :)  ).  We've tried all sorts of cunning
    , devil-make-dare ploys and the such like, but still to no avial.
    
    We've all tried baring our little leggies, in the hope that, if
    that didn't scare the management...nothing would.  At the moment
    though we are in the process of wearing glarishly coloured ( colored
    for US ) hawian T-shirts, in the hope that conbining sickly colours
    and the awful heat together with BAD jokes will send our manager
    into an early retirment, or better still he'll buy us some realy
    nice 'Desk-Top-IBM-compatible-realy-good-stuff' Fans.
   
    One thing I realy would like answered is.... What temperature do
    we have to endure until they send us home ?  or is it just a case
    of wait until your eyeballs melt (gross) and then your just no use
    to us anyway...? 
    
    Oh yes just one last thing...get this, we had a message sent around
    that, according to the system managers...
    
    	" The computers were starting to feel the heat, and in the
    	 event of a fall-over, the auxilary air conditioning would
    	 be redirected to the computer room."
    
     
    I rest my case, but I'd still like to hear more from the rest of
    you.  I mean,, you can't all be that cool....can you ? ( he says 
    sharpening his claws... :)   ). 
    
    
    
    Yours,
    
    'Whos-nicked-my-Coke-can'
    
    __ A N D Y __
    e n g l a n d
    
        oo
       /||\     <------ An air conditioning BUG !
    
    
    

    The only thing mentioniong temperature in the H and S act is a minimum
    of about 67F. However I was working in Hitchin a few years ago when
    it was just as hot and they gave us free lemonade,coke etc..
    On the other hand a year later I was doing a systems test in Wiltshire
    in a corrugated iron shed and the temperature was recorded at 105F
    (no free drinks!).
    

    Back in  the summer of '77 in Derry NH, while working for Cross Products
    the building we  rented  was  a  made  mostly of a steel shell  with  no
    insulation, and would get into the  high  80F's  and  low 90F's on those
    occasion that it got above 95F we where sent home (on some days that was
    10:00 in the morning) well that winter there  were big plans to insulate
    and  install  air-conditioning,  one  month later we moved to  Salem  NH
    (NIO).
    
    Claude
    

    
    You-al, 
    	Yep me again....Guess what....Nope thats not it !
    
    	They've actually agreed to install..... 'Humdifiers' !!!!!!!
    
    	and the only catch is, that there for the COMPUTERS!
    
    
    	
    Yours,
    
    Thinking-of-becoming-a-computer
    
    __ A N D Y __
    e n g l a n d
    
    
    	oo
    	oo       <------- Two air-conditioning BUGS, getting the better
       /||\		  of us..... me thinks.  :)
                                                   
    

    Andy, does (s)he have to endure the same conditions?
    
    Or has he got a more comfortable environment? **no-one** can be
    expected to be productive in that sort of environment..
    
    Thinks : why not book a meeting roam in Dec Park 1 (or
    anywhere else in Reading) that has access to the LAT, and
    work from there for the time being.
    
    Peter	(offering_sympathy_but_none_of_my_air_conditioning!!)
    

    Did someone say productivity???????
    
    Here are some real research results from various studies:
    
    1. Weston: Effect of ambient temperature on production:
    
    
    Temperature (Celcius):    22    23    24    25    26    27    28
    Production  (Units):    7375  7250  7100  7075  7075  7075  7000
    
    
    2. Hasse: Lowering of work capacity as effective temperature rises:
    
    
    Temperature (Celcius):	15	20	25	30	35
    Work Capacity (%):	       105     100      70	45	20
    
    
    3. Mackworth: Study of error rate of 12 telegraphists as temperature
       changed:
    
    
    Effective Temp. (Celcius):	26	28	31	33	36
    Average number of errors:	12    11.5    15.3    17.3    94.6
    
    
    We use these to justify purchase of heating and ventilation equipment.
    
    I've got lots of this stuff!
    
    Maurice...working at 32 degrees C and 80% humidity this week, but
    not bitching too much as he is moving to a new office building in
    December.

    You can always utilise your home terminal!

  One thing you can do about the heat is for most of the people in
the group to buy cheap electric fans and then ask their cost center
to reimburse them. Even if he doesn't, it provides some relief from
the heat and gets the manager's attention. I bought a perfectly
adequate fan for $10.
  It is a common practice to set the controls to divert cool air
to the computer room (and test floor, if there is one) if there is
an overload. 

    I just bought a fan from Debenhams in Reading and claimed it on
    Petty Cash.
    
    Of course I obtained permission from my Manager *first*.

    
    Tell-a-lie, the temperature at present is a lot better.  I think
    this is due to the ffact, that they are leaving the air-conditioning
    on all night. 
    
    Re. ? Yep, our unit manager sits real close to us, so he knows the
    	  the problem.
    
    Re.17 Andy, I think someone tried to get us all fans, sometime ago
    	  but failed.  Hey-ho.
    
    
    One re-assuring thing, I've heard a whisper, that we are going to
    have an air-conditioning *UPGRADE* so I think theres hope for us
    yet....yippy!!!
                        
                            
    Yours,
    
    all-spaced-out-&-happy
    
    __ A N D Y __
    e n g l a n d
    
    
       \||/
        oo       <----- Dead Bug....( Cackle, cackle, hand rub )
    
    

    Some of us here in HL02 had a heatwave a few months back. It was
    just inside the building, in one set of offices. This caused an
    investigation together with people noticing a high incidence of
    colds, sniffles and general unwelness.
    
    After environmental testing it was discovered that the air circulation
    was appalling (extra vents and capacity were added) and that bacteria
    were growing well in our present ducts.
    
    Fortunately for us, management were convinced by such hard evidence
    and a major air-conditioning upgrade is in progress.
    
    Good luck to other sufferers!

    Just to add my two cents worth. Here in Reading, the root cause
    of the problem is that the A/C is owned/run by a wonderful organization
    called Facilities.
    
    Now, THEY have their offices in another building, with a far more
    pleasant environment. The fix is to drag every one of them to the
    hottest part of DECpark II and make them do their work there. The
    watch how quickly it gets fixed.
    
    Nothing like a little motivation :-)
    
    /Mike
    

    Re: .19
    
    Who did the environmental testing?  DEC Facilities?  Health Services?
    an outside agency?  If outside, what did it take to convince DEC
    to have it done?
    
       Gary

	Re .20 and the Facilities Group...
    
    >Now, THEY have their offices in another building, with a far more
    >pleasant environment. 
    
    Ever been in Millenium House? It is right next door to the
    main sewage works (and therefore is reeeeeally smelly) and you
    would not wish to open the windows, even if you could...
    
    I was in there for 30 minutes a week or so ago, and it was
    very hot in there too.... 
    
    Even Facilities can't get good facilities for themselves..
    
    Peter
    
	

    There used to be a law...
    
    In the good old days the nasty capitalist bosses ran their offices and
    factories at minimum cost ... this meant as little heating as possible
    and they hadn't invented air conditioning yet. Then along came the Shops,
    Offices and Railway premises act which defined both a minimum and maximum
    working temperature for each class of premise. Of course nobody was
    really interested in health and safety then, so in due course the politicos
    got on that band wagon and passed the Health & Safety at Work Act which
    defined different limits that superceded the old ones.
    
    And then the arabs got nasty and stopped shipping oil to Britain (and
    America). Now that happened in the Summer when it was hot, so the
    government of the day (a Labour government mind you) passed an Order
    in Council to remove the upper temperature limits from the bills and
    reduce the lower limit, so that our stocks of oil would be depleted
    less quickly. When the oil crisis was over they overlooked withdrawal
    of this order, much as they forgot to cancel the 70mph speed limit.
    
    Of course most major unions negotiated working conditions including
    the old temperature limits for their workers.
    
    Unfortunately DEC is a non-union shop.
    
    The bottom line is put up with it or go work for a union shop.
    
    /. Ian .\

>        The bottom line is put up with it or go work for a union shop.

    I'd take the heat, any day.

    Union shops ? Wages based solely on title ? Seniority ? Codified
    adversity between labor and management ?  NO THANKS !
    
    Dana_who_will_NEVER_AGAIN_work_in_a_union_shop

    
    
    	Oh no, not the U-word again......
    
    
    
    						mike

   There is an enclosed office area at LMO2 with about 25 people. It comprises
about 7% of the total office space in the building. I have been in this space
for 15 months and the A/C has never been right. For a year the air was almost
still and it got hot in the afternoon whenever the sun shone, no matter how
cold it was outside. The west wall is mostly windows (hermetically sealed, of
course). Three months ago the facilities dept began a project to upgrade the
A/C. After several weeks of constuction noise and blocked aisles, they shut
down the existing A/C, supposedly to cut over to the new system. That was two
weeks ago. During this time we have had NO A/C or ventilation. The average 
temp at 4 pm 15 feet back from the windows is 83 degrees on sunny days. 
   This sounds similar to the situation that occurred in Hudson last spring;
see .19. I asked the author off-line if he knew any more about it and he didn't.
So I am asking here: does anyone know who asked for the environmental testing
and who did it? As far as I know, nobody has done any environmental testing
here. There are really two problems, temp control and ventilation, and there is
no guarantee the new A/C system will solve the ventilation problem.

 <----------- .27
    
    Bob... you need to ask these questions to Nancy Norberg... you can
    find her right around the corner from Dan's office....  she is in
    charge of these questions, and will have the answers for you...
    
    However, the problem also laid in the humidifier, along with installing
    the new A/C....  it was miserable for a day or two within the whole
    building, not just your section...  but I'd rather be miserable
    for a day or two, to enjoy the working atmosphere we have here now!
    
    Please, see Nancy, she'll answer any or your questions for you...
    
    Gale
    LMO2 also...

  The new A/C went on line as scheduled last Thurs. and seems to
be working, but we haven't had a hot day yet. I am planning to
continue this discussion off-line with Gale.