Osan participates in no heat, no cool season

News > Osan participates in no heat, no cool season

Osan participates in no heat, no cool season

Posted 9/20/2012 Updated 9/20/2012

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by Senior Airman Michael Battles
51st Fighter Wing Public Affairs

9/20/2012 - OSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea -- The time has arrived for Osan Air Base to participate in the seasonal no heat and no cool shutdown.

The 51st Civil Engineer Squadron Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning shop shutdown air conditioning Sept. 15 to not only allow the air systems to be evaluated and repaired before the heating season begins, but to also save the base money.

"The no heat and no cool time period is not only about saving energy and money," said Kristi Yu, 51st CES Asset Management Office resource efficiency manager. "This time also gives maintenance enough time to go around base and transition the systems from heating to cooling."

During the no heat/cool time period, which runs from the end of summer to the beginning of fall, HVAC systems will still circulate on a fan system that provides a breeze and fresh air to every building on base, Yu said.

More than 300 buildings and 2,500 heating and A/C systems on Osan Air Base are affected by the switchover.

"The industrial ventilation systems that we have here take a lot more maintenance than your normal home or car systems," said Senior Master Sgt. James Goddard, 51st CES operations flight superintendent. "Once we get notification to start the transition, it takes about a month to get the systems prepared for the season."

Once temperatures have reached less than 80 degrees for a five consecutive days, the A/C is turned off for the year. When the temperature dips below 60 degrees for at least five consecutive days, heat will be restored base-wide.

On average, Osan spends approximately $30,000 dollars a day to heat the base and nearly $12,000 a day to cool the base during the summer.

The asset management office suggests that dorm residents keep the temperature no lower than 76 degrees and work centers no lower than 78 degrees during the summer months. During the colder months, home and office temperatures should be no higher than 68 degrees.

Yu urges anyone that has creative ideas on how to conserve energy on Osan to call 784-4894 for the base energy manager or 784-2045 for the resource efficiency manager.

Comments

9/30/2012 8:26:11 PM ET
This no cool no heat is ridiculous. 80 degrees in my room. If I open my window then I have to deal with the noisesmakers. The quality of life here at Osan has gone down. Now they change the hours of the Dining facility on us. But there is money for a multi-million dollard new enlisted club that is still not open Love it

Tom, Osan

9/28/2012 1:40:32 AM ET
I have no problem with opening the windows to let the cooler air in but when 70 percent of the dorm residents dont have screens on their windows the bug issue begins to be a big problem at night. There should be no reason why an airman needs to sleep under mosquito netting in his dorm room. I believe the issue was supposed to be fixed during the spring no heatno cool season but I see it has not.

Allen, Osan

9/25/2012 8:32:49 PM ET
What is Air Conditioning

Maintaner, Outside

9/24/2012 10:04:14 PM ET
You two are both missing one of the points of the article. It is also about maintenance and prepping the systems. These are not your little household wall boilers or window AC units. These are industrial-sized machines that measure in the tens of thousands of BTUs. The autumn season is the only practical time to shut systems down and prepare them for winter operations. Too early and you might be sweltering in 98F in your office instead of an awful 78F or a sweltering 81F. Too late and you'll be needing hand warmers and parkas in the offices.If you can come up with a more effective system that gives the two benefits of cost savings and maintenance prep without taking anything further away I'm sure the Air Force will be all ears.

Thomas, Osan

9/24/2012 7:06:33 PM ET
Scott my office is the same way and when you have anywhere from 10-15 customers in at a time it gets quite intolerable. Also I think its kind of funny that they shut the AC and heat off in the dorms becuase we aren't allowed to have portable heaters in our rooms. Not having AC is ok at times but at night it actually is starting to get cold and blankets can only do so much

Josh, Osan

9/23/2012 10:08:24 PM ET
Just to piggy back on the above post. It was 92.7 degrees in our office when I came in Saturday and its 81 right now with every door and window open. Inexcusable

Scott, Osan

9/22/2012 8:18:52 AM ET
I understand about wanting to save the base and collective armed forces money but the issue of heating and cooling is something I don't understand. If my family lived off-base we would get sufficient money to heat and cool our home as we liked. Even if we had to we could still dip into our own pocket to keep ourselves comfortable. Why is this not an option for on-base housing Also if anyone thinks 78 in a business is comfortable you are out of your minds. I avoid the BX at all costs during the summer because I am sweaty after only a few minutes. I have to believe there are other ways for the base to save 12-30000 a day.

Christina, Osan

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