Showmen's Trade Review (Jan-Mar 1940)

Page 30 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW March 30, 1940 Cooling Theatres Job Calling for Best Planning, Equipment and Installation THE coming of summei poses the usual question for the theatre now equipped with a cooling system or the more elaborate type of installation which is known as an air conditioning plant. That is, the matter of making the equipment ready for use as a cooling device. Theatres so equipped have the necessity of calling in the services of skilled mechanics to do the job of cleaning ducts, if the air conditioning system has not been used for heating during winter, and all the devices connected with refrigeration, the checking of the latter's compressors for leakage of refrigerant or water, as well as all piping in the water circulating system ; the blower equipment, etc. Theatres Feel Lack of Cooling Theatres not having ventilating or cooling systems have the problem of worrying along against the competition offering cooled atmosphere, and the handicap of a lack of inducement to a public which, on hot and humid days, is open only to one suggestion : to get relief from the oppressive atmosphere out of doors and in homes. Now is the time of year when the theatre owner has dinned into his ears the lecture about his need for cooling equipment. He knows the argument holds both logic and good advice for his own welfare during the summer months ahead. But he knows also that cooling equipment involves eixpense, that the selection of the right type and the proper installation thereof are factors of vital importance. In the previous issue of this section of STR, attention was called to a most important factor connected with cooling and ventilation equipment — that the type of system installed must be guided entirely by the individual situation af¥ecting the theatreman investing in cooling and ventilation. Factors such as size of the theatre are no more important than individual characteristics of the theatre's design and construction, its location, availability of water supply at low rates, and electrical current costs. If experience has proved anything about the whole business of cooling and air conditioning, it is that there is only one way to do the job, and that is the right way at the outset. Air conditioning and cooling is a job that must be tailor made for the particular situation. Short cuts and compromises result only in grief, in dissatisfaction as to the results obtained and in constant expenditures for corrective measures. Package System for Small Houses The small capacity house, that is the theatre up to about 500 seats, on the average can be adequately air conditioned (cooled and dehumidified by refrigeration) by means of "package" systems, or unit air conditioning plants. However, even in the small theatre the best results may be obtained by means other than the unit machine, which of course is more easily installed and requires less elaborate complementary work than the plant utilizing a duct system. The fact that each installation is an individual, tailor made job is best illustrated by the practice of the large circuits, which put in new installations in a new theatre or new .equipment in an older one on a basis of an '4 individually engineered installation. These circuits have had considerable experience in the matter. Air conditioning is not a new proposition to them. They have worked on it as extensively as some of the air conditioning engineering organizations themselves. They design a job, specify certain types and capacities of apparatus, such as compressors, and turn the order for the apparatus over to the organization whose reputation and whose equipment meets the specified quality at the lowest figure. Theatremen have access to good engineering services through theatre supply organizations and reputable engineering firms in their vicinity. The problem for the theatreman to solve is whether he can best go into a limited form of cooling, such as a ventilating system without refrigeration will afford, or is better off spending the added amount for complete air conditioning, such as will cool the theatre in summer and heat it in winter in accordance with the present standards of comfort and healthful atmosphere. No generalized presentation of the pros and cons of the subject and the various types of cooling can be of great help to the individual theatreman, and it may as well be admitted whether individual manu Broadway columnists have been scooperooing the town with those brief, hot-f rom-theinside shots warning the good citizens of the Street that it will be warm in the theatres this summer because of water shortages. The drought's effect on New York City's reservoirs has been that bad that there is, sure enough, a move on to limit the amount of water that will be available for air conditioning plants in theatres as well as stores, cafes, restaurants, what the boys call "hot spots," etc. But that there will be such a severe limitation as to cut off theatres from supply of the necessary water for refrigeration plants is something that has not been decided by a long shot. Making Survey of Plants Currently the Commissioner of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity in New York, and his engineers and aides are making a survey of plants consuming water for air conditioning. Also Commissioner Joseph Goodman has held conferences with representatives of theatre circuits and other executives in various businesses in the city regarding the threatened shortage for the summer. According to present predictions there will be a severe water shortage even if normal rainfall blesses the New York area through the Spring. First to be put on strict rations, of course, will be water consumers who operate air conditioning plants for comfort, if rationing is determined upon. But strict rationing of water isn't going to shut off the cool air in air conditioned theatres of the deluxe type — because the operators thereof will then be forced to spend money for circulation systems. The installation, in those theatre plants not so equipped now, of water towers, evaporative condensers, spray pools or wells will enable SMPE Meets In Atlantic City The Spring Convention of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, to be held in Atlantic City, April 22 to 25, inclusive, will be featured by the reading of nnore than 36 technical papers, according to a Committee announcement this week. Convention plans are being formulated by E. A. Williford, the Society's President; W. C. Kunzmann, Convention Vice-President; J. I. Crabtree, Editorial Vice-President; and Sylvan Harris, Chairman of the Papers Committee. Harry Blumberg, Philadelphia, is chairman of the Local Arrangements Committee, and H. Griffin, member of the Board, is in charge of projection facilities. The 46th Semi-Annual Banquet and Dance of the Society will take place Wednesday night at the Haddon Hall hotel. facturers like the idea or whether they don't. Buying air conditioning and cooling is something requiring the very best advice for the individual situation. But as a rule of thumb, the theatreman should make up his mind to one thing: either he should put in the best air conditioning system properly engineered and installed to meet his requirement, or he should, if the price of that be too high, compromise not by short-rating on the equipment but by installation of a very good ventilating system that will circulate the air and afford that much improvement in comfort for patrons during the hot weather. these plants to operate at high efficiency _ as usual. Lots of water, of course, goes coursing down the sewers when air conditioning plants operate without these means of circulating the water and using it over and over again. Cooling towers, for example cut down the amount of water used by nearly 95%. Which is conserving a lot of water when you consider that without circulation the amount of fluid run off as waste amounts to 2]A, gallons per minute per ton of refrigeration. That means a total of 300 gallons per minute for a plant of the size of that of the Rivoli theatre on Broadway, for example. With water at the rate of $1.50 per thousand cubic feet, operation of such a plant runs up a right smart water bill (about $3,000 for 100 days of cooling at the rate of 10 hours a day operation). At this rate many wonder why so many theatres do not have the circulating equipment. The answer differs in accordance with the source of the reply. Engineers and manufacturers are inclined to believe that the theatremen won't spend the extra money for the initial installation which, they claim, would pay off for itself in the saving on water rates. The theatremen, on the other hand, say the circulating systems were not put in because in certain cases the saving in water costs is oiTset by the extra current costs and other factors not encountered when free-running water is used. One thing is sure, the bigger picture theatres will be air conditioned and cool this summer whether the city water supply officials get a restrictive measure through, boost rates to prohibitive prices or take other means to shut down on water for air conditioning plants; though in making them so circuits and theatre owners in the greater city may be spending several hundred thousand for circulating equipment. Water Shortage May Nip New York Theatres