Fun HVAC Facts

October 6, 2020

Those of us, especially if living in extremely hot or cold climates, tend to take air conditioning and heating for granted. We only give thought to them when there is a problem, and we are being denied the luxury of heated or cooled air. We don't think about how amazingly far the technologies have come. It is interesting to see how far back those inventions go and who we should thank for the benefits that they have produced.

Following are just some of the amazing and fun facts behind these HVAC "treasures":

Air Conditioning

• Ancient Egyptians got their "air conditioning" with moistened reeds in the windows. The air coming through is cooled as the water evaporated.
• Ding Huan is credited for creating the first primitive air conditioner in 180 A.D.
• Willis Carrier, an American engineer working in a printing plant in Brooklyn, NY, invented the first modern electrical air-conditioning unit in 1902 and was granted a patent on January 2, 1906, for his 'Apparatus for Treating Air.'
• Carrier was the first spray-type air-conditioning equipment in the world. Carrier used his knowledge and experience of heating objects with steam and then reversed it by sending water through coils filled with cold water instead of hot water that cooled the air and enabled the room's moisture and humidity to become controllable.
• In 1913, the first fully air-conditioned house was built in Minneapolis by Charles Gilbert Gates. Air conditioning changed architecture because buildings no longer needed amenities to endure summer's unbearable heat by employing features such as sleeping porches, breezeways, and high ceilings.
• The first window air conditioning unit went on the market in 1932 and cost more than $100,000 when figured in today's prices.
• The first automobile manufacturer to include air conditioning in its cars was Packard in 1936.
• The first President to air-condition the oval office and the White House was Herbert Hoover. Franklin D. Roosevelt later added air conditioning to the bedrooms in the 1930s.

Heating

• "Furnace" is from "Fornax," which is the Greek word for oven.
• The Romans developed the first central heating, which sent hot air from a furnace fed with wood into spaces under the floor and the walls.
• The Chinese first transported natural gas via bamboo pipelines in circa 500 B.C.
• Margaret Wilcox, a mechanical engineer, invented the first car heater in 1893. Alice Park was granted the first central heating system patent in 1919. The Pennsylvania Fireplace and Franklin Stove from Benjamin Franklin were the first modern heating units.
• The first water-heating system that was self-contained was used to hatch chicken eggs! The Bank of England's Governor used the first steam-heating system to grow grapes!

Contact Us Today!

At Master Mechanical, we would be happy to give you more details, answer any HVAC questions, and discuss any problems you may have with your air conditioning and/or heating systems. Give us a call today!