Is the venue air conditioned?

[TribunalRecords]

It was a problem for a while. Less so now. It's usually some prime real estate being "saved" by these things. To me, only asses save seats. Anything else can be set aside.

That said, there are almost always seats available. They might just be at the very back.

Maybe this year I should bring the giant white bed sheet with the words "ALL MINE" spray painted on them and throw it over a section. I always wanted to that years ago and see what went down. Because the pillowcases were beyond obnoxious.

But, the best thing I have ever seen someone save a seat with was their bag of merch. I was tempted many a time to teach someone a valuable lesson, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

 

[J-Dubya 777]

This is what the crew does when we have a breather...... :Spin:

 

[nomisofsiman]

You have also been there for a collective total of 5, maybe 6 band sets, so you haven't got that much experience when it comes to the seating situation...

 

[JenniferLynn]

But do they have bathrooms?

A/C AND bathrooms!?!?! Wow you guys are asking for alot

Honestly tho, it's going to be awesome seeing the 1st time attendees freaking out about how great this festival is.. Welcome to the family

 

[Dustin]

Back on topic... Here is some boring, yet educational knowledge concerning A/C and the venue. Pay attention, as there will be a quiz on Thursday when I arrive

Anyone notice that when the arena is packed and the foyers are nearly empty, that is hot as hades - even on the floor - in the arena, yet arctic like conditions outside in the halls... But within minutes of a band finishing and everyone emptying out, it quickly reverses and the hallways turn into saunas while the inside venue cools down to a nice spring day?

SCIENCE!!! ;-)

The human body on average produces 250 BTU's depending on weight and size of a person. To know what a BTU value is, 1 BTU = 1 burning match. So, one person is like a nice pile of 250 burning matches.

Now, take 1,000+ people in the venue x 250 = ...a raging camp fire.

I don't know what kind of units the venue has or the capacity they are designed for, but judging by the size of the building, I would guess that they have probably 4 separate 5 ton systems.

It takes 1 ton of cooling to remove 12,000 BTU's of heat. So, 5 tons of cooling per unit removes 60,000 BTU's of heat x 4 = 240,000


Still with me? ...good!

With this rough guess calculation, you can see that it comes close to handling the load to keep thing comfortable. Mind you, this does NOT calculate the BTU Output of the lights, amps and other gear that produce heat.. Or the extra BTU expelled by those mysterious rotten egg farters.

But wait, that's not all!

The hotter it is OUTSIDE the venue (ambient outside air temperature ), the less efficient the A/C system is, thusly affecting the ability to remove heat from inside the building.

So, if it's 95+ outside... It's going to be a little rough inside of the venue if it is at occupant capacity. A nice 78+ outside? Should be pretty good inside where there are not many people crammed together

...any questions?

\m/
Your resident Progpower HVAC/R guy

 

[Justin G]

He blinded me with science!

 

[NorseBlood]

Dustin, thanks for your short HVAC 101 lecture.

According to weather.com the forecast for next week in Atlanta will be humid in the mid-80s, and given there will be 1500+ people this year. Lets see if I have this right. 250 per person * 1550 people = 387500 BTU being generated. Add the lights and equipment and for arguments sake I'll give it a conservative 400,000 BTU maximum heat generation estimate. So, if we have 4 separate 5 ton units removing 240,000 BTU, then we'll be short 160,000 BTU heat removal during a performance. Its going to get warm.

 

[San Eutocio]

Another silly question. Does the venue offer Wifi conecction? It will be really cool for people like me that are coming from abroad not to use our expensive roaming service to post our adventures at PPUSA and kill our friends with pure envy

 

[Harvester]

They do not offer public wifi.

 

[MeTuLHeD]

The human body on average produces 250 BTU's depending on weight and size of a person. To know what a BTU value is, 1 BTU = 1 burning match. So, one person is like a nice pile of 250 burning matches...etc. etc. etc.

Thank you Dustin for giving us the math. You said what I was trying to say MUCH more eloquently.

Basically, it comes down to this. Since many PPUSA attendees watch...maybe...40% of the bands, that leaves a whopping 60% of the time that the venue is only partially filled. During those "lean" times with fewer bodies, the AC drops the temp down to less than comfortable levels. But it's the price you must pay to avoid overloading/cooking the cooling system during the more heavily attended sets.

 

[labarum]

What's this about whole row save attempts? Squatter's rights? My ticket doesn't have a seat number on it so I'm thinking no one else's has one either.

Re-using one of my memes because it is relevant to the thread.
Obviously I don't condone violence, but Insanity Wolf does.

 

[MeTuLHeD]

Maybe this year I should bring the giant white bed sheet with the words "ALL MINE" spray painted on them and throw it over a section. I always wanted to that years ago and see what went down. Because the pillowcases were beyond obnoxious.

As a crew member, I don't experience this first hand at PPUSA. But I have been on the receiving end of this kind of behavior at numerous large venue shows and I think it's obnoxious in the extreme. What part of "festival seating" don't people understand? "First come, first served" is the rule, not "I got here first so I'm going to save a row of choice seats for my extended family and all their buddies". It's ridiculous. But it will continue until people decide to be equally obnoxious and challenge it.

But, the best thing I have ever seen someone save a seat with was their bag of merch. I was tempted many a time to teach someone a valuable lesson, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

And that's a testament to how laid back the atmosphere is at PPUSA. I'd like to see someone try that stunt at the Van Halen show I worked last year. Those CDs would have disappeared into a black hole faster than you can say "five finger discount".

 

[Palabra de Dios]

I will likely sit for several bands, as the majority of what I want to see from the rail is happening on Thursday and Friday nights. And I will say that really, there aren't any bad seats in that venue. The sound is great no matter where you are (probably even better than being blasted right in the front), and you get a full view of the whole stage. It's actually quite intimate.

But, I have noticed that if I sit too high up for bands that I'm just not too big on, I have a tendency to doze off a bit (especially if the party lasted until the wee hours the night before)...

Regardless, saving seats is dumb because just about every seat is a good seat.

 

[jaimek]

Also, don't lie and say a seat is saved when it's not. I wanted to sit down for SX's show and found a lone seat in a good spot; the person there told me it was saved. No one showed up the entire set. *claws*

 

[nomisofsiman]

He blinded me with science!

That was intense.

 

[VenomGA]

They do not offer public wifi.

they used too...what happened?

 

[Harvester]

I have never been aware of a free, public wifi signal within the venue. There are various password protected ones. If it was there was once open access or appears again in the future, it is something that they do not advertise.

 

[TENTH DREAMER DECEIVER]

Back on topic... Here is some boring, yet educational knowledge concerning A/C and the venue. Pay attention, as there will be a quiz on Thursday when I arrive

Anyone notice that when the arena is packed and the foyers are nearly empty, that is hot as hades - even on the floor - in the arena, yet arctic like conditions outside in the halls... But within minutes of a band finishing and everyone emptying out, it quickly reverses and the hallways turn into saunas while the inside venue cools down to a nice spring day?

SCIENCE!!! ;-)

The human body on average produces 250 BTU's depending on weight and size of a person. To know what a BTU value is, 1 BTU = 1 burning match. So, one person is like a nice pile of 250 burning matches.

Now, take 1,000+ people in the venue x 250 = ...a raging camp fire.

I don't know what kind of units the venue has or the capacity they are designed for, but judging by the size of the building, I would guess that they have probably 4 separate 5 ton systems.

It takes 1 ton of cooling to remove 12,000 BTU's of heat. So, 5 tons of cooling per unit removes 60,000 BTU's of heat x 4 = 240,000


Still with me? ...good!

With this rough guess calculation, you can see that it comes close to handling the load to keep thing comfortable. Mind you, this does NOT calculate the BTU Output of the lights, amps and other gear that produce heat.. Or the extra BTU expelled by those mysterious rotten egg farters.

But wait, that's not all!

The hotter it is OUTSIDE the venue (ambient outside air temperature ), the less efficient the A/C system is, thusly affecting the ability to remove heat from inside the building.

So, if it's 95+ outside... It's going to be a little rough inside of the venue if it is at occupant capacity. A nice 78+ outside? Should be pretty good inside where there are not many people crammed together

...any questions?

m/
Your resident Progpower HVAC/R guy

Yes. Did you take into consideration the Hot Latina effect?

 

[Jasonic]

You have also been there for a collective total of 5, maybe 6 band sets, so you haven't got that much experience when it comes to the seating situation...

Yes, and I believe I stated it was my first time.

I was echoing that what seemed to be an issue in the past, based on my experience, does not seem to be so much of one these days.

 

[Dustin]

He blinded me with science!

That was intense.

Indeed! Science is wicked cool.

Dustin, thanks for your short HVAC 101 lecture.

You are welcome! It's what I get paid to do

According to weather.com the forecast for next week in Atlanta will be humid in the mid-80s, and given there will be 1500+ people this year. Lets see if I have this right. 250 per person * 1550 people = 387500 BTU being generated. Add the lights and equipment and for arguments sake I'll give it a conservative 400,000 BTU maximum heat generation estimate. So, if we have 4 separate 5 ton units removing 240,000 BTU, then we'll be short 160,000 BTU heat removal during a performance. Its going to get warm.

Yes, Exactly. Possible solution to offset the lack of compensation in cooling effect from the A/C - Drink LOTS of cold liquids! Good thing the venue has a bar stocked with plenty of those, of which I will partake of to combat the latent heat of transfer due to the indoor BTU load. ;-)

Thank you Dustin for giving us the math. You said what I was trying to say MUCH more eloquently.

no problamo sir!

Basically, it comes down to this. Since many PPUSA attendees watch...maybe...40% of the bands, that leaves a whopping 60% of the time that the venue is only partially filled. During those "lean" times with fewer bodies, the AC drops the temp down to less than comfortable levels. But it's the price you must pay to avoid overloading/cooking the cooling system during the more heavily attended sets.

or worse, freezing the coils... once that happens, it's game over for several hours until they thaw. But overall, you are correct! Due to the expected outside temp in ATL Midtown next week, expect it to be warm in the venue even into the evening when it's near capacity of attendance.

I am sure many alumni have noticed in the past, that when you are inside watching a band -even after the sun goes down - and then decide to step outside to smoke, chat it up, hit an eatery or walk back to their hotel... that it actually feels cooler OUTSIDE the venue than it does inside for the first few minutes. It could be 90 degrees outside and it would feel cooler. This isn't because the A/C isn't working, in fact it most certainly is, because if the A/C in the venue wasn't working properly or not at all, EVEYRONE would notice rather quickly. LOL!

After all these years of attending, I would say that the A/C in the venue works pretty good with all things considered. It's a difference of it maintain room temp around 80-85 with them working at full load capacity (i.e. full venue)... or 110+ if they didn't.

Yes. Did you take into consideration the Hot Latina effect?

ummm... no, I did not take that into consideration. I would surmise to say it would have a very negative impact of the operation on the A/C system in the venue, however...it certainly would have a very positive effect on male testosterone levels!

\m/