4 ms·

This reminds me of a story; a buddy of mine during my college days lived in a solitary townhome adjoining a million-watt microwave emitter room. The thing produ

This reminds me of a story; a buddy of mine during my college days lived in a solitary townhome adjoining a million-watt microwave emitter room. The thing produced enough waste heat to warm the apartment in the dead of winter, even with all the doors and windows open, plus the adjoining warehouse which was several times the volume of the dwelling. I was envious at the time, although now I wonder about the health implications of the setup, and whether it was strictly speaking legal. The guy is alive and well today, fortunately.

nerdponx 9y ago
I wonder what would happen if you heavily shielded the walls, but ran a heat exchanger through. Free baseboard heating?
- _greim_ 9y ago
  I think that's essentially what they did. I got to go into the transmitter room and see the 1' diameter copper pipe which I was told carried the radiation out and up to the tower, and which not to approach too closely.
  - KGIII 9y ago
    This whole story sounds horrifically dangerous and unlikely to be approved of with regards to zoning and building inspectors. By that, I mean I'm a tad bit green with envy.
    - _greim_ 9y ago
      My thoughts exactly. If I ever write a hard sci-fi novel I want to adapt this setting somehow.
  - Kelbit 9y ago
    That would be a circular waveguide. Very common for radar setups.
jandrese 9y ago
He lived in a house like this? https://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/simpsons/images/1/18/The_Simpsons_Residence_with_an_Omnitouch_antenna.PNG https://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/simpsons/images/1/18/Th... Your description makes it sound like the most bizarre mixed use building. Townhouse/industrial equipment shed/warehouse is quite the combo. I can't imagine how they classified that for tax purposes or what the land was zoned for. Assuming the actual emitters were high above his head and fairly directional then it probably wasn't a health nightmare, the heat would have mostly been waste heat from transformers, but it's probably not ideal. What did he do in the summer? I guess it's school so he wouldn't be there for the hottest part, but there is still part of August and September as well as May and possibly June.
- _greim_ 9y ago
  > He lived in a house like this? ... Append a giant concrete warehouse to the side and move the tower into the back yard and, yes. > Your description makes it sound like the most bizarre mixed use building. Agreed on all points :) I should ask next time I see him about the zoning. I speculate it was some kind of employee/maintenance quarters. His job was to go into the transformer room once per day and make sure the green light was still blinking. (Kidding, not sure what the arrangement was :) > Assuming the actual emitters were high above his head and fairly directional... The tower was quite tall, and I was told perfectly safe to climb for most of the height, then suddenly fatal! I understood it to be more or less horizontally omnidirectional. I'm definitely not an expert in the tech. Also I think he could redirect the heat to the outside during warmer months.
  - fencepost 9y ago
    > His job was to go into the transformer room once per day and make sure the green light was still blinking. (Kidding, not sure what the arrangement was :) Ah, but did he have a dog whose job was to bite him if he tried to touch any buttons?
  - reaperducer 9y ago
    > I was told perfectly safe to climb for most of the height, then suddenly fatal! I used to know a couple of radio engineers, and this sounds about right. The owners of the radio stations would pay them extra if they did tower maintenance without shutting the station down. They all had weird swirly RF burn scars on their forearms.
aidenn0 9y ago
It was probably fine; microwaves are fairly easily blocked by even a very thin metal screening. The main health issue with microwaves is the heating caused by it. The eyes are usually what is damaged first because they tick all 3 boxes of: * Easily damaged by heat * High water content * No good way of shedding heat Testicles hit the last two, and the degree to which the first is true is debated.
- _greim_ 9y ago
  > It was probably fine; microwaves are fairly easily blocked by even a very thin metal screening. That makes sense in retrospect, given we humans routinely stand with our noses pressed against thinly-screened microwave oven windows waiting for food to heat, apparently without health effects!

nerdponx 9y ago

I wonder what would happen if you heavily shielded the walls, but ran a heat exchanger through. Free baseboard heating?

_greim_ 9y ago
I think that's essentially what they did. I got to go into the transmitter room and see the 1' diameter copper pipe which I was told carried the radiation out and up to the tower, and which not to approach too closely.
- KGIII 9y ago
  This whole story sounds horrifically dangerous and unlikely to be approved of with regards to zoning and building inspectors. By that, I mean I'm a tad bit green with envy.
  - _greim_ 9y ago
    My thoughts exactly. If I ever write a hard sci-fi novel I want to adapt this setting somehow.
- Kelbit 9y ago
  That would be a circular waveguide. Very common for radar setups.

jandrese 9y ago

He lived in a house like this? https://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/simpsons/images/1/18/The_Simpsons_Residence_with_an_Omnitouch_antenna.PNG https://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/simpsons/images/1/18/Th... Your description makes it sound like the most bizarre mixed use building. Townhouse/industrial equipment shed/warehouse is quite the combo. I can't imagine how they classified that for tax purposes or what the land was zoned for. Assuming the actual emitters were high above his head and fairly directional then it probably wasn't a health nightmare, the heat would have mostly been waste heat from transformers, but it's probably not ideal. What did he do in the summer? I guess it's school so he wouldn't be there for the hottest part, but there is still part of August and September as well as May and possibly June.

_greim_ 9y ago
> He lived in a house like this? ... Append a giant concrete warehouse to the side and move the tower into the back yard and, yes. > Your description makes it sound like the most bizarre mixed use building. Agreed on all points :) I should ask next time I see him about the zoning. I speculate it was some kind of employee/maintenance quarters. His job was to go into the transformer room once per day and make sure the green light was still blinking. (Kidding, not sure what the arrangement was :) > Assuming the actual emitters were high above his head and fairly directional... The tower was quite tall, and I was told perfectly safe to climb for most of the height, then suddenly fatal! I understood it to be more or less horizontally omnidirectional. I'm definitely not an expert in the tech. Also I think he could redirect the heat to the outside during warmer months.
- fencepost 9y ago
  > His job was to go into the transformer room once per day and make sure the green light was still blinking. (Kidding, not sure what the arrangement was :) Ah, but did he have a dog whose job was to bite him if he tried to touch any buttons?
- reaperducer 9y ago
  > I was told perfectly safe to climb for most of the height, then suddenly fatal! I used to know a couple of radio engineers, and this sounds about right. The owners of the radio stations would pay them extra if they did tower maintenance without shutting the station down. They all had weird swirly RF burn scars on their forearms.

aidenn0 9y ago

It was probably fine; microwaves are fairly easily blocked by even a very thin metal screening. The main health issue with microwaves is the heating caused by it. The eyes are usually what is damaged first because they tick all 3 boxes of: * Easily damaged by heat * High water content * No good way of shedding heat Testicles hit the last two, and the degree to which the first is true is debated.

_greim_ 9y ago
> It was probably fine; microwaves are fairly easily blocked by even a very thin metal screening. That makes sense in retrospect, given we humans routinely stand with our noses pressed against thinly-screened microwave oven windows waiting for food to heat, apparently without health effects!