how do you cool down a big store during the summer?

Question

i own a big video store where i live. it has 4 big rooms. i have a big central air conditioner, a.c uints in the back and near the side of the store circulating the air pretty well. the problem is it keeps staying hot after all that. there are two big glass doors that let u enter the store that keeps opening and closing letting the hot air in and the windows are amplifying the heat also. what can be done to keep the big store cool without buying another air conditioner?

the doors are on two different sides and i cant make one door the enter door and the second door the exit door.

Answer 1

I would look into glass the deflects the light to some degree. Light = heat, maybe you can get some kind of reflective shades on some of the windows ( the bigger one preferably).
Perhaps you can lower your ceilings with drop ceilings. consider if an 8 ft X 8 ft room ceiling were dropped only 6 inches that is an area of 32 square feet you are not cooling.
Perhaps upgrade your windows entirely, even a few at a time but concentrate on the East side first. These are the first rays entering.
Consider insulation, and remember :
The ability for heat to enter you home and the amount of insulation are inversely related. As insulation decreases the ability for heat to enter increases; hence, if you increase the insulation then the ability for heat to enter decreases.

Remember also, it is not how many AC units you have it is what the total BTUs they are putting out, and what is required for the space they are attempting to cool.
It would do little good to have two units that total 2000 BTUs for a space that requires 3500 BTUs. Then determine effeciency of the unit also, and a new thermostat can help along the way. A digital one is much better than an older rotary / mercury type.

Truthfully if it were me on a budget I would look into insulation and the drop ceiling first. Then into upgrading my windows and a more efficient AC Unit and a new thermostat. I would look into an AC unit though that exceeds my requirement - it will work less to produce the same work.

Answer 2

First of all you need to make sure you are not just wasting electricity on a malfunctioning A/C unit. You should have an HVAC tech come out and make sure your system is working properly. It may just need a coil cleaning and new air filters.

You can replace the glass with insulated Low-E glass that will block at lot of the suns heat and UV light. If new windows are out of the budget you can apply light/heat reflecting films to your windows that will cut down on heat gain quite a bit. While not as good as new glass it will make a huge difference.

You should also look at air infiltration. Obviously customers entering and exiting all the time allow a lot of heat to enter.
An air curtain would help with this. Ask the HVAC tech about your options.

Answer 3

Most of the previous answers are good.

Try this first.

There are films, which reduce the amount of light passing through the glass, that can be placed on the existing windows. This can decrease the heat gain enough to allow the a/c units to do their job more effectively.

Another thing to look into is double entry doors. This will help to reduce the amount of air floor into and out of the building when the doors open. You will want about 8 to 10 feet between each set of doors.

Some links to check out:

http://www.powerhousetv.com/stellent2/groups/public/documents/pub/phtv_se_wi_bu_000524.hcsp

http://www.chiefengineer.org/content/content_display.cfm/seqnumber_content/1586.htm

http://www.facilitymanagement.com/articles/window0505.html



Good Luck.

Answer 4

install , a new door , so you need to use a second door to get out , and the cool air will stay in the store