Hospital room thermostats

[jasonl]

Helen has been in the hospital the past week recovering from an appendectomy and is doing quite well considering the damn thing broke and tried to poison her insides.

Anyway, the thermostats in hospital rooms have intrigued me for a long time now and I'm trying to figure it out. The one in the room is a small rectangular box with a little knob to set the temperature. There's no heat or cool switch but there is a 3-speed fan switch on the wall. And when you turn the thermostat, there's a slight hiss of air. Like the damper or whatever it controls is air-powered. From what I can tell it's very accurate and holds the room temperature fine.

Has anyone here ever work with these kind of tstats and large HVAC units? I'm guessing the stat controls a damper which opens and closes warm or cool air according to setting.

 

[fonografmaniac]

is it a stainless steel honeywell?

 

[maytagbear]

Jason!

I wish Helen a speedy recovery.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[appnut]

Jason, Y'all are in my prayers. I'm so sorry to hear about this, but I am very glad Helen will be ok.

 

[qsd-dan]

Pneumatic HVAC

It's a Pneumatic setup. They were phasing them out by the mid 80's but my building at work is 6 years old and uses this system.

The only problem that I hear from the building engineers is that the employees ramp the thermostat from one extreme to the other which quickly throws the thermostat way out of calibration. Other than that, it's very reliable.

 

[DADoES]

Best wishes to Helen for a comfortable recovery!

Some hospitals I've been in seem to have a central airflow system that can provide both heat and cool at the same time. The thermostat controls a damper to mix the flows, I'd guess similar to a car system.

 

[Cybrvanr]

hope she gets well quick. That sucks being in the hospital during the Christmas holiday! A burst appendix can be pretty life threatening!

We had those pneumatic thermostats in my school growing up. They have a small air valve that is opened and closed by the bimetal strip inside. The air pressure then opens/closes dampers in the air ducts, or in the case of my school's heating system, opens the valve on the radiators. What makes these things so nice is the fact that they can vary the amount of heat in any amount BETWEEN full on and full off, where electric thermostats switch on or off with no in between. A pneumatic system can let in small amounts of air pressure that can open a valve or a damper just slightly. The result is that you get only the amount of heat/cool needed to get the job done, and no more, so they don't wildly cycle between warm and cool like an electrically controlled system would...perfect for a hospital!!!

Some of the older American cars with automatic climate control systems had something similar to this as well. I remember my grandmother's cadillac having a thermostat wheel with temperature numbers on it. If the wheel was turned, it let out a hiss, and you would feel the warm or cool air start to come out of the vents. Once the car would get to a comfortable temperature, the air coming out the ducts would be only tepid, but the car would stay nice and comfy inside!

 

[frigilux]

A burst appendix is very, very serious! I'm glad Helen's doing well and please give her our best.

 

[petek]

Wish Helen well for me up here.

We had those tstats in my highschool and some of the offices I've worked at. I don't think anyone ever knew how to work the darn things properly.
Re the GM cars, that was the GM Comfortron air conditioning, had it in a few cars. iirc one of the nicer features was that on a cold day it wouldn't start blowing air out until there was some heat to be had.

 

[panthera]

All the best

For a speedy recovery for Helen.
That's no fun!
My friend's 1989 Cadillac uses a similar system, coupled with flaky electronics. When she's in a good mood, you get wonderful cooling and heating with no sudden temperature jolts.
But on a bad hair day...

 

[tolivac]

The place where I work has the pneumatic thermostat system.The control valves for the heated water and chilled water are controlled thru these thermostats as well as blower box dampers leading the air to the area the thermostat controls.when I have gone for security checks-have observed these valves and dampers in operation.

 

[fonografmaniac]

get well soon helen and merry christmas! my school had those pneumatic thermostat too in the classrooms. it controlled a forced-air radiator that sits infront of the window.

 

[mayken4now]

Good wishes for Helen. My, didn't know she was having problems. Just received your Christmas Card the other day. No mention.

Steve

 

[gyrafoam]

Sorry to hear Helen is in hospital! Thats not a fun place, especially during the Holiday Season, so I hope she gets to go home soon!

Best wishes!

 

[JerseyMike]

Sorry to hear about Helen.

I hope that she has a complete and speedy recovery.

Mike

 

[jasonl]

Thanks y'all. She is doing wonderful and the doctor is hoping to be able to let her go home before Christmas, but if she isn't well enough, she ain't going nowhere.

My dad had a 1978 Cadillac Coupe DeVille pimp car that had the neato thermostatic control in the dash. On a hot day, the AC would not start until it got cold enough to start running, then it would freeze your ass out. Likewise with heater, when the engine warms up, WHOOSH!

Helen's Prius has electronically controlled AC. All you need to do is raise or lower the temp to your liking. You can access it through the touch screen or the temp buttons on the steering wheel (how lazy is that). I keep it at about 72 so on cold days, it heats and on hot days it cools. The rear and front defrost are also located on the steering wheel for easy on/off.

Helen's aunt Dorothy has a Toyota Avalon which is one totally awesome luxury car. It has two driver and passenger climate controls.

When I was in school in Chalmette, we had an easy climate control system. Open the windows and at least the hot air escapes. We steam heat in the wintertime. The "berler" (boiler for you northerners) room was also the janitor's closet.

 

[sudsmaster]

My '50 Plymouth has an interesting heater control. The temperature level is connected to a little copper bellows at the hot water valve on the firewall. Apparently it contains a thermostat so that the valve position is tempered by the actual cabin temperature. Or maybe it won't open until the water temp is hot enough. In any case, it works fairly well. Another lever operates by direct mechnical linkage to divert air from fresh unheated to fresh heated. There is no air recirculation capability.

My '99 Chrysler 300M has an electronic temperature control. It works well enough, but defaults to having the AC on all the time. When I'm in a high mileage mood in the winter, I switch the system to manual and turn off the AC. The temp is still electronically controlled, and this saves a MPG or two, until the windshield fogs up and I turn the AC back on ;-).

 

[toggleswitch]

Best wishes to you Helen!
Give 'em hell lady-- and come back stronger than ever!

Merry Mery Christmas and a happy healthy wealthy peaceful new year!