"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message
. net...

"RJ" wrote in message
...

It occurs to me that
every motel I've ever stayed at ( 20 200 units )
always uses a "window unit" for cooling.

Seems like it would be more economical
to have one central unit, and circulate chilled water
to heat exchanger in the rooms.

Anyone have any insight here ?

Maintaining a chiller is no simple task for a small to medium motel. You
have differing occupancy rates, thus big swings in load demand. Then you
have the piping to deal with, booster pumps, and, if the chiller goes down
you have the complete motel with no AC instead of a room or two.

I doubt the economics works well.
You got it. They keep a couple 3 spares out back, and when one craps out,
the in-house repair guy can swap it out like a light bulb, in less than an
hour. Not a trivial issue on the few weeks a year the place is booked solid.
BTDT, staying in cheap motels for training courses on govt dime. Note that
most places, these thru-wall units also provide at least part of the heat,
in winter. I have noticed that the bathroom wet wall usually seems to have
enough central heat so pipes don't freeze if room HVAC goes down. I presume
they bleed this off the hallway heat, if there is an interior corridor, or
from the pipe chase that runs between the blocks of rooms on older motels
with outside doors. (I haven't seen a new outside-room-door motel go up in
at least a decade.)

aem sends...