6 ms·

Many apartments don't have a bathtub, only a shower. And if everyone keeps tap water running, the pressure will drop down to trickle. Cold cellars can be in sho

by rini17 5y ago

Many apartments don't have a bathtub, only a shower. And if everyone keeps tap water running, the pressure will drop down to trickle. Cold cellars can be in short supply, underground car parks tend to get hot too. And seems you probably never bathed in 35°C water, it's definitely not refreshing. And there are psychological issues that people just don't know what to do till it's too late. I was living an apartment with only 1 southern window, the heat was hard to vent. Once during a heatwave I found myself in a weird lethargy then I started going sick and then I found out the thermometer shows 40°C inside. I went outside immediately. Were not a healthy young man, that could have ended up badly. Since that I never underestimate the heat. That does not mean 100% fatality rate is possible but it definitely might be more than 0.1%.

giantg2 5y ago
"Many apartments don't have a bathtub, only a shower. And if everyone keeps tap water running, the pressure will drop down to trickle." People don't have trashcans, storage bins, etc? "And seems you probably never bathed in 35°C water, it's definitely not refreshing." Where is this 35C water coming from? Also, if it's a humid heat, there are likely to be natural or artificial bodies of water around. Hopefully the people have been taking care of them and they aren't a cesspool. Sure, some people may die, but it should be very low. Edit: why downvote? All the excuses the previous person gave seem petty to me, so I'm wondering how that person came to their conclusion. Especially for where that hot water is coming from.
- Aeolun 5y ago
  > WB 35 °C (95 °F) – theoretically equivalent to a heat index of 70 °C (160 °F), though the heat index does not go that high I’m inclined to say that this is not very survivable, regardless of your precautions, if your air conditioning has died.
  - giantg2 5y ago
    I'm not sure you understand wet bulb and heat index. Heat index is largely irrelevant when talking about the precautions mentioned. The actual temperature is no where near 70C, and actual temperatures matter when talking about cooling that does not use ambient air (and evaporative cooling assuming 100% humidity in this case). A wet bulb of 35C means that there is a thermometer covered with a wet cloth reading that temperature. That could be 35C with 100% humidity, or it could be a higher temperature with a lower humidity. Can you explain how your air conditioner keeps you cool? Do you think this machine is the only thing that can perform a similar function? It's all about removing excess heat from your body. An air conditioner does this by cooling air and removing humidity. This can be from the cool air on your skin and the ability for your sweat to evaporate. When your sweat can't evaporate you need another way to transfer heat. Water is very efficient for this due to its specific heat (anything at a cooler temperature with sufficient thermal mass can work). Some people can even become hypothermic in 27C water if left in it long enough. Edit: I guess people just downvote things they don't like or find to be inconvenient.
    - exo-pla-net 5y ago
      Re-read the comment you're responding to.
      - giantg2 5y ago
        I did... and?
        exo-pla-net 5y ago
        You come off as browbeating him, accusing him of not knowing things, when he said a small thing that was fully accurate if not precise. That's why you're being downvoted.
        giantg2 5y ago
        "I’m inclined to say that this is not very survivable, regardless of your precautions, if your air conditioning has died." How is that fully accurate? It seems to me that "not very survivable" is not accurate and is an over exaggeration. I don't expect a 50% death rate, even 10% would be extremely generous. It would be like me saying linux desktops are very common.
  - DHPersonal 5y ago
    Even if my air conditioner was still functional, its output, the attic-based tubing used to push the air around, and the cheaply-built and leaky house to which it all attaches would never be able to keep out the heat.
    - Izkata 5y ago
      Also the outside end of the heat pump wouldn't be able to cool off, so it wouldn't be making any cool air inside anyway. The tipping point there seems to be way lower than the numbers above, around 50 C / 120 F.
      - Aeolun 5y ago
        Huh, that’s a good point. Never considered that.
- epgui 5y ago
  You’re being unreasonably optimistic. It’s wishful thinking.
  - giantg2 5y ago
    How so? What part is unreasonable? I was specifically questioning things like where is the hot water coming from, people without tubs can't figure out how to save water, etc. Those claims sound overly pessimistic and simplistic to me.
    - Izkata 5y ago
      It's not about saving water, it's about immersing yourself in water. You seem to have a different natural disaster in mind.
      - giantg2 5y ago
        It is about conservation of water because as the person pointed out, you can't have a bunch of people running water continuously. You can store the water in a trash can or other large container. You can immerse yourself, or parts of yourself, in this water. You can even make a gravity shower to reuse the water since it's used for cooling and not cleaning. Replace the water when it gets too warm. This would greatly reduce the water usage compares to continual showers and provides a suitable substitute the previously mentioned bath tub when one is not available.
        hasmanean 5y ago
        In some places people used to pump groundwater out of the ground to use. That water should be at a temperature of around 10-20C. So you could soak your feet in that to cool off.
Aeolun 5y ago
> Cold cellars can be in short supply If this starts to happen semi-regularly, you can bet my garden will turn into a little hobbit hill/cellar. That said, I agree that if it happens suddenly to that extend, we would likely be looking at more than 0.1%.
Stratoscope 5y ago
> underground car parks tend to get hot too This is something that has puzzled me every time I park in the underground garage under City Hall in Palo Alto. It is always so hot down there compared to the outside air. I was about to ask if anyone knows why that is, and then realized I could search for the answer: https://www.google.com/search?q=why+do+underground+garages+get+hot https://www.google.com/search?q=why+do+underground+garages+g... Lots of interesting opinions there, including a previous HN thread. One discussion I liked showed up when I'm signed into Google but was missing from an incognito search: https://philip.greenspun.com/blog/2013/07/05/stupid-geophysics-question-of-the-week-why-are-underground-parking-garages-hot/ https://philip.greenspun.com/blog/2013/07/05/stupid-geophysi...
- michaelbuckbee 5y ago
  This reminds me of how the London Underground used to be much cooler, but the trains have raised the temperature of the clay surrounding the tunnels sufficiently that it never cools off: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Underground_cooling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Underground_cooling
  - mastax 5y ago
    Relevant: https://youtu.be/Y8RfeAmLfn8 https://youtu.be/Y8RfeAmLfn8 There's also all the body heat, and the resistive braking of the trains which is being phased out.
- Maursault 5y ago
  Hello 2013: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5997368 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5997368
N1H1L 5y ago
True. Which is why what always puzzles me is that cities like Austin or Phoenix are gaining population. It's so hot there!

by rini17 5y ago

giantg2 5y ago

"Many apartments don't have a bathtub, only a shower. And if everyone keeps tap water running, the pressure will drop down to trickle." People don't have trashcans, storage bins, etc? "And seems you probably never bathed in 35°C water, it's definitely not refreshing." Where is this 35C water coming from? Also, if it's a humid heat, there are likely to be natural or artificial bodies of water around. Hopefully the people have been taking care of them and they aren't a cesspool. Sure, some people may die, but it should be very low. Edit: why downvote? All the excuses the previous person gave seem petty to me, so I'm wondering how that person came to their conclusion. Especially for where that hot water is coming from.

Aeolun 5y ago
> WB 35 °C (95 °F) – theoretically equivalent to a heat index of 70 °C (160 °F), though the heat index does not go that high I’m inclined to say that this is not very survivable, regardless of your precautions, if your air conditioning has died.
- giantg2 5y ago
  I'm not sure you understand wet bulb and heat index. Heat index is largely irrelevant when talking about the precautions mentioned. The actual temperature is no where near 70C, and actual temperatures matter when talking about cooling that does not use ambient air (and evaporative cooling assuming 100% humidity in this case). A wet bulb of 35C means that there is a thermometer covered with a wet cloth reading that temperature. That could be 35C with 100% humidity, or it could be a higher temperature with a lower humidity. Can you explain how your air conditioner keeps you cool? Do you think this machine is the only thing that can perform a similar function? It's all about removing excess heat from your body. An air conditioner does this by cooling air and removing humidity. This can be from the cool air on your skin and the ability for your sweat to evaporate. When your sweat can't evaporate you need another way to transfer heat. Water is very efficient for this due to its specific heat (anything at a cooler temperature with sufficient thermal mass can work). Some people can even become hypothermic in 27C water if left in it long enough. Edit: I guess people just downvote things they don't like or find to be inconvenient.
  - exo-pla-net 5y ago
    Re-read the comment you're responding to.
    - giantg2 5y ago
      I did... and?
      - exo-pla-net 5y ago
        You come off as browbeating him, accusing him of not knowing things, when he said a small thing that was fully accurate if not precise. That's why you're being downvoted.
        giantg2 5y ago
        "I’m inclined to say that this is not very survivable, regardless of your precautions, if your air conditioning has died." How is that fully accurate? It seems to me that "not very survivable" is not accurate and is an over exaggeration. I don't expect a 50% death rate, even 10% would be extremely generous. It would be like me saying linux desktops are very common.
- DHPersonal 5y ago
  Even if my air conditioner was still functional, its output, the attic-based tubing used to push the air around, and the cheaply-built and leaky house to which it all attaches would never be able to keep out the heat.
  - Izkata 5y ago
    Also the outside end of the heat pump wouldn't be able to cool off, so it wouldn't be making any cool air inside anyway. The tipping point there seems to be way lower than the numbers above, around 50 C / 120 F.
    - Aeolun 5y ago
      Huh, that’s a good point. Never considered that.
epgui 5y ago
You’re being unreasonably optimistic. It’s wishful thinking.
- giantg2 5y ago
  How so? What part is unreasonable? I was specifically questioning things like where is the hot water coming from, people without tubs can't figure out how to save water, etc. Those claims sound overly pessimistic and simplistic to me.
  - Izkata 5y ago
    It's not about saving water, it's about immersing yourself in water. You seem to have a different natural disaster in mind.
    - giantg2 5y ago
      It is about conservation of water because as the person pointed out, you can't have a bunch of people running water continuously. You can store the water in a trash can or other large container. You can immerse yourself, or parts of yourself, in this water. You can even make a gravity shower to reuse the water since it's used for cooling and not cleaning. Replace the water when it gets too warm. This would greatly reduce the water usage compares to continual showers and provides a suitable substitute the previously mentioned bath tub when one is not available.
      - hasmanean 5y ago
        In some places people used to pump groundwater out of the ground to use. That water should be at a temperature of around 10-20C. So you could soak your feet in that to cool off.

Aeolun 5y ago

> Cold cellars can be in short supply If this starts to happen semi-regularly, you can bet my garden will turn into a little hobbit hill/cellar. That said, I agree that if it happens suddenly to that extend, we would likely be looking at more than 0.1%.

Stratoscope 5y ago

> underground car parks tend to get hot too This is something that has puzzled me every time I park in the underground garage under City Hall in Palo Alto. It is always so hot down there compared to the outside air. I was about to ask if anyone knows why that is, and then realized I could search for the answer: https://www.google.com/search?q=why+do+underground+garages+get+hot https://www.google.com/search?q=why+do+underground+garages+g... Lots of interesting opinions there, including a previous HN thread. One discussion I liked showed up when I'm signed into Google but was missing from an incognito search: https://philip.greenspun.com/blog/2013/07/05/stupid-geophysics-question-of-the-week-why-are-underground-parking-garages-hot/ https://philip.greenspun.com/blog/2013/07/05/stupid-geophysi...

michaelbuckbee 5y ago
This reminds me of how the London Underground used to be much cooler, but the trains have raised the temperature of the clay surrounding the tunnels sufficiently that it never cools off: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Underground_cooling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Underground_cooling
- mastax 5y ago
  Relevant: https://youtu.be/Y8RfeAmLfn8 https://youtu.be/Y8RfeAmLfn8 There's also all the body heat, and the resistive braking of the trains which is being phased out.
Maursault 5y ago
Hello 2013: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5997368 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5997368

N1H1L 5y ago

True. Which is why what always puzzles me is that cities like Austin or Phoenix are gaining population. It's so hot there!