Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi
I want to support my daughter's school who have a small sensory room in a mainstream secondary school. At the moment they rely on heaters and desktop fans to help regulation, but the person leading the sensory room wants to get an air conditioning unit for climate control. She has been asked for research into whether this will make a difference in the colder months. I want to help, but I do not know where to start- can anyone here help me please.
Kind regards
xx
Your concern for your daughter's school is seriously heartwarming. I totally get the struggle with temperature in schools – back in my school days, it was like they were playing weather roulette! But hey, let me share a little story – when our AC went haywire, we reached out to air conditioning repair in Riverview, FL. They dropped some seriously helpful tips that saved our comfort.A climate-controlled sensory room sounds like a brilliant idea! As for research, you could dive into studies about how temperature affects focus and comfort in learning environments. I'm cheering for you, championing a more comfortable space for all the students.
I think your idea is awesome. In the classrooms, it shouldn't be either too cold or too hot.
A Heat Pump which can do heating or cooling will use around a third to a half of the electricity that electric heating will use, so the saving on heating may cover the cooling use in summer, depending on how much the heating runs.
Fans are very low cost and can be replaced cheaply and a fixed heater is probably part of the building fabric so you're probably going to have an up-hill struggle to get funding.
I know. That is why I didn't know whether it would be worth going down the eco route and seeing if there are any grants available. Surely its more cost effective than fans and an electric storage heater.
That's going to be tricky then. Full air conditioning (those great big plants up on a building roof) often have the ability to adjust humidity too - but that increases the cost - don't know if that would be a factor.
The problem you also have is the capital cost of installation and the on-going running and maintenance costs - most school budgets are being squeezed so there may simply be no money to implement it.
Wow. I can't help with your question but I think I need a sensory room at work. Definitely. Think I will get a blank look if I ask for one though.
Thanks Plastic. My worry is at the moment the school is asking for research into how air conditioning helps regulate young people's body temp better than fans. I can't seem to find any.
There are lots of things sold as 'air conditioning'. Most real air conditioners have 2 parts - the outside pump and compressor and the inside evaporator to cool the room.
Slightly more expensive is a 2-way unit which is combined heating and cooling with the heat pump unit outside and the heater/cooler inside. They take the heat from the outside air to heat the room or dump the heat from the room in cooling mode.
Air con is expensive to run in the summer - be ready for bigger bills.
The cheapo 'coolers' are usually evaporative - basically a fan blowing over damp membranes that wick water from a tank in the bottom. Be careful of this type because the often go mouldy and the spores & airborne seeds grow in the membranes.