NoOne N Particular wrote:
I was in my garop (garage shop) yesterday fiddling around. Late last
year I bought a clock for the garop that has time, temperature, and
humidity dials on it. It was going to be a hot day outside so I
thought it would be interesting to see just what happened in the heat.
I was doing ok as the temperature rose from a starting point of about
80 when I started. When it said 85 I was still ok. Sweating a
little, but it was tolerable. When it said 90 I wasn't ok anymore,
but I kept fiddling anyway. Sweating a lot too. When I would go back
into the house, the 82 degrees in there (a/c is great isn't it?) felt
GREAT. When the temperature got to 95, my clothes would almost
instantly stick to me when I would go out there because of the sweat.
Not fun anymore. I started thinking to myself that I must really be
a pussy. (Any women out there, please substitute the word wussy from
now on) Can't even take 95 degrees anymore. Then I thought to
myself, "So what if I'm a pussy!" and went into the house. The last
time I looked it got up to 98 in the garop. I think it probbly hit a
hunnerd in there before it was all over.
So I started wondering how many other pussies are out there. I like
to think I have earned my "pussyship". I remember in my younger
years working with my dad wrenching on his trucks in 110 deg heat
with no shade. Had to be VERY careful where you put your tools down
because if laid them down in the direct sunlight you weren't picking
them back up again without getting some serious burns (well, that's
what it felt like anyway). I can remember driving across the SoCal
desert in 125 heat with no a/c. I can also remember much more
recently being out in my son's back yard digging trenches (by hand
shovel) for his sprinkler system and it was well over 100 that day.
I have quite a few other heat related memories too. So I have earned
it.
The outside temp finally got up to 105 yesterday and for the first
time in several weeks THERE WAS NO BREEZE. The humidity hovered in
the 45% range which is a little bit higher than usual for this heat.
At that temp it is usually more like 15% to maybe 30% (I have other
gauges around, just a new on in the garop). Also my uninsulated
aluminum garop doors face west so I get the full sun in the late
afternoon. If I open the garop doors all I get is hot air coming
across the concrete in front, PLUS the sun heating up everything else
inside. If I leave the doors closed I can't get too near them
because they feel like tools left laying in the sun.
But back to the question, how hot is too hot?, etc. Obviously, this
question will only apply to people that do not have air conditioned
work shops. Many if not most of you probably don't even have a
thermometer. But about what temperature do you finally give it up
and go back into a less hostile environment? I know you can't say "I
go in at 90 degrees." Too many weather variable for that. But for
me, I think I'll probably stick to around 90 or so for heat, and
maybe 50ish for cold. Any colder than that and my hands start
hurting from the cold and I just hate wearing gloves. Any hotter
than 90 or so and I could ruin a perfectly good piece of wood with
sweat droppings. :-) I have pushed both ends of the scale for
shorter periods of time (couple of hours or so) and I'll do it again,
but as a general rule of thumb I think these limits are close. Won't
really take a thermometer to tell either. If my hands start aching
from the chill, I'll go in. If I lay my arm on the bench and I have
to peel a piece of wood off of my arm, I'll go in.
You might find
http://www.usna.edu/USMCInfo/Heat%20Condition.htm to be
of interest. The Boat School follows the same rules as the Marines in
that regard, and the Marines are not famous for coddling their recruits.
The wikipedia article on WBGT
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet_Bulb_Globe_Temperature describes the
procedure for computing the index.
--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)
Wayne
--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)