10 Fun Facts about HVAC

 

Let’s face it– unless you’re in the industry, the topic of HVAC also known as Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning… might not seem all that interesting. We personally love anything and everything heating and cooling related.  However, we thought you’d still enjoy these rather interesting facts about HVAC systems. Here are ten interesting facts about HVAC you (probably) didn’t know. Who knows, they might help you win trivia night!

  1. The New York Stock Exchange was the first building to have air conditioning in it.

  2. Before HVAC units, it was thought that summers were too hot for children to learn, which is why we have “summer break” now.

  3. The first modern air conditioning unit was invented in 1902 by Willis Carrier, with the intent of keeping temperatures and humidity low for a publishing company in New York. It made their paper a more consistent product.

  4. It is estimated that the amount of energy used just on air conditioning and heat in the United States exceeds the total amount of energy used on the entire continent of Africa.

  5. The first car with air conditioning was introduced in 1939 by the Packard Motor Company. It wasn’t very popular due to it’s high cost and the fact that the system took up half the trunk space.

  6. The first fully air conditioned home was built in a mansion in Minneapolis in 1913. The owner, Charles Gates, unfortunately died before ever getting to use it.

  7. Herbert Hoover was the first President to enjoy air conditioning in the White House. He spent $30,000 to install the system in the oval office, just after the start of the Great Depression.

  8. Movie theaters were some of the first establishments to have air conditioning as a strategy to get more people to go to the movies. It worked handsomely, and this is why we have the term “summer blockbuster”.

  9. Studies have shown that since the invention of air conditioning, humans’ natural tolerance for heat has lowered. Therefore, a hot summer day seems much hotter nowadays than it would have centuries ago.

  10. Without the invention of air conditioning, many medications would never have been invented. In turn, some diseases would’ve never been cured.