Additional history of the air conditioning system
In the first decade of the twentieth century, a young engineer named Willis Haviland Carrier invented an “Apparatus for Treating Air” while working for the Buffalo Forge Company. The apparatus was designed to reduce heat and humidity that caused paper to shift and colors to misalign in a printing plant at Brooklyn, New York. The patent for his process was awarded in 1906. That same year, another engineer named Stuart H. Cramer developed a system for controlling air in textile plants which added water vapor to air. Cramer called his process “air conditioning.” Carrier adopted the term for his system as well. When Lutcher learned of the new air conditioning system, she contacted the Buffalo Forge Company and ordered a system for the new church soon after construction started in 1908.
The design of the church included air conditioning with windows that could not be opened. It was the first air-conditioned public building west of the Mississippi River and may have been the first church in the nation that was air conditioned. The exact design of this first system is uncertain. A steam boiler and steam engine in the basement was apparently used to drive an ammonia compressor to produce chilled water. Most likely, the chilled water was sprayed into air drawn in by a blower in the basement that routed the cooled air into conduits built into the structure to both floors above. An exhaust fan of equal capacity was used to route the air out of the ceiling of the second-floor sanctuary into a chimney to the atmosphere or back to the suction of the basement blower depending on the position of dampers in the chimney. Construction began in 1908 and was completed in time for dedication of the building in 1912. Sometime in that time frame a carbon dioxide (CO2) mechanical refrigeration system was ordered and installed by April,1914 when then Reverend Drake documented how well the new system lowered temperature in the building to 70 degrees in 45 minutes and the humidity low enough that set point had to be raised to 80 degrees to be comfortable. Electricity requirements for the CO2 system would have been over half the amount produced for the entire city of Orange at that time. Therefore, a power plant was built behind the church with a 200 HP engine that ran on crude oil and generated enough electricity for the motors to run the CO2 compressor, a larger air blower, and electric lighting in the church. A new high pressure (1200 psi) evaporator coil was installed in the basement with equally rated piping to route CO2 from the compressor located in the power plant to the evaporator coil in the basement of the church. An air-cooled cooling water tower was also installed with this system. Finally, a Carrier Company engineer was hired to live in Orange to operate the power plant and air conditioning unit.
By 1928 electrical power generation in the city had increased to where the church power plant was no longer needed. A newer, lower cost centrifugal chiller system using dichloromethane (R-30) was ordered in 1929. A year or two later, all the components of this much lower pressure operating system were installed in the basement. A new air higher capacity air blower was also installed and the second-floor exhaust fan was eliminated.
Health concerns of R-30 inspired changing the centrifugal chiller to a compressor for Freon-12 (R-12) refrigerant in the early 1950s. As R-12 began to be phased out in 1975 due to ozone depletion concerns, the refrigerant was changed again to R-420A. In 2019 the compressor was replaced with an identical model designed for R-134A refrigerant in order to increase cooling capacity by 10% needed for modern comfort. The expansion valves also had to be replaced to accommodate R-134A but the blower, evaporator coil, and cooling tower installed for R-30 are still in use today.
Research assembled by Ron Rehfuss in June, 2024
The design of the church included air conditioning with windows that could not be opened. It was the first air-conditioned public building west of the Mississippi River and may have been the first church in the nation that was air conditioned. The exact design of this first system is uncertain. A steam boiler and steam engine in the basement was apparently used to drive an ammonia compressor to produce chilled water. Most likely, the chilled water was sprayed into air drawn in by a blower in the basement that routed the cooled air into conduits built into the structure to both floors above. An exhaust fan of equal capacity was used to route the air out of the ceiling of the second-floor sanctuary into a chimney to the atmosphere or back to the suction of the basement blower depending on the position of dampers in the chimney. Construction began in 1908 and was completed in time for dedication of the building in 1912. Sometime in that time frame a carbon dioxide (CO2) mechanical refrigeration system was ordered and installed by April,1914 when then Reverend Drake documented how well the new system lowered temperature in the building to 70 degrees in 45 minutes and the humidity low enough that set point had to be raised to 80 degrees to be comfortable. Electricity requirements for the CO2 system would have been over half the amount produced for the entire city of Orange at that time. Therefore, a power plant was built behind the church with a 200 HP engine that ran on crude oil and generated enough electricity for the motors to run the CO2 compressor, a larger air blower, and electric lighting in the church. A new high pressure (1200 psi) evaporator coil was installed in the basement with equally rated piping to route CO2 from the compressor located in the power plant to the evaporator coil in the basement of the church. An air-cooled cooling water tower was also installed with this system. Finally, a Carrier Company engineer was hired to live in Orange to operate the power plant and air conditioning unit.
By 1928 electrical power generation in the city had increased to where the church power plant was no longer needed. A newer, lower cost centrifugal chiller system using dichloromethane (R-30) was ordered in 1929. A year or two later, all the components of this much lower pressure operating system were installed in the basement. A new air higher capacity air blower was also installed and the second-floor exhaust fan was eliminated.
Health concerns of R-30 inspired changing the centrifugal chiller to a compressor for Freon-12 (R-12) refrigerant in the early 1950s. As R-12 began to be phased out in 1975 due to ozone depletion concerns, the refrigerant was changed again to R-420A. In 2019 the compressor was replaced with an identical model designed for R-134A refrigerant in order to increase cooling capacity by 10% needed for modern comfort. The expansion valves also had to be replaced to accommodate R-134A but the blower, evaporator coil, and cooling tower installed for R-30 are still in use today.
Research assembled by Ron Rehfuss in June, 2024
