Kanto Plain heat wave is putting
big strain on air conditioners at bases
By Jennifer H. Svan, Tokyo
bureau chief
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — Air conditioners at three U.S. bases are breaking under
the strain of a heat wave blanketing the Kanto Plain this summer.
The 374th Civil Engineer Squadron at Yokota received 319 calls this month to repair
air-conditioning units, compared to 236 in July last year, according to squadron commander
Lt. Col. John Ahern.
"And July’s not over yet," he said.
Calls for air-conditioning repairs also are up at Camp Zama. At Atsugi Naval Air
Facility, new air conditioners are on ready to replace aging ones.
Officials say part of the problem this summer has been that it’s too hot for air
conditioners to cool properly.
AC units at Yokota are designed to cool to 78 degrees. But that’s when the outside
temperature doesn’t exceed 89 degrees.
"The hottest it’s supposed to get is 89 on all but 2.5 percent of the days
(out of the year)," Ahern said, noting it’s 91 degrees for AC units at the
hospital. "This year is the 100-year flood of heat. You don’t design to the
100-year flood."
In July, the average temperature at Yokota has been 93 degrees, with many days more
than 90 and several more than 100.
"The systems are designed to the standard heat average," Ahern said.
"Above that, you’re really pushing the air condition system — you’re
asking it to cool from a higher temperature than it would normally be asked to."
When it’s hotter than 89, air conditioning units probably won’t cool to 78
degrees, he said.
Air conditioner outages have occurred all over Yokota, though Ahern said tower units
seem to be doing better than those in the new garden homes, where some residents have had
trouble keeping their upstairs cool.
As a result, a transformer at one of Yokota’s main sub-stations is at 99 percent
capacity, a level reached when the outside temperature reaches 95 degrees. It’s been
95 degrees or hotter at least 12 days so far in July.
At Camp Zama, calls for air conditioning repairs are up about 5-to-10 percent this year
said Ricky Keele, chief of the electrical and air-conditioning branch for the Directorate
of Public Works.
The directorate has been able to keep up, usually responding within three days, but
that has required a lot of overtime for the 12 employees who maintain about 4,000 window
air conditioners and 150 larger systems, Keele said.
Overall, electricity demand is up about 15 percent this year, but part of that is
because of new facilities such as a new gym. He said, however, a newly upgraded substation
has been able to meet the demand, Keele said.
At Atsugi Naval Air Facility, some air conditioners installed about seven years ago are
beginning to wear out, said housing manager Suhiko Kobayashi. More than 200 new ones have
been ordered, but it will take a few months for them to arrive,he said.
At Yokota, Ahern said the civil engineer squadron has requested two generators from
Pacific Air Forces; some buildings would be hooked to the generators to reduce the power
demand on the taxed transformer.
"If we don’t do that, we risk the chance of the transformer failing because
we reached capacity," Ahern said. "If you reach capacity too much, you can burn
it up."
Fred Knapp contributed to this report.
Back to July stories
Page Two news roundup
Stories from June, 2001
Stories from May, 2001
Stories from April, 2001
Stories from March, 2001
Stories from February,2001
Stories from January, 2001
Stories from December, 2000
Stories from November, 2000
Stories from October, 2000
Stories from August and September, 2000
Stories from June and July, 2000
Home |
