8-10-14: Mina ~ Tent City
Mina, Saudi Arabia, lies 8 km east of Mecca, and empty most of the year so it's been designated to handle some of the three million pilgrims during the 5 days of Hajj. The Saudis erect 100,000 tents to house the crowd, but not just any tents, air conditioned, 8 meters square, and of Teflon coated fiberglass for fire resistance.
http://cellar.org/2014/tentcity.jpg Quote:
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They get air conditioned tents but they don't have to work as firefighters for it?!!! They're setting a bad example for our convicts.
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Vurry nize.
I went to a Civil War re-enactment south of Nashville a number of years ago. There were over 20,000 re-enactors, and they were all camped on site, in small, canvas tents. It was very impressive, the campground, but, it weren't nothing like this. |
Those look like evaporative coolers, not air conditioners.
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The article says air conditioned. Links from the link, to Arab News and Sunni Forum appear to agree. That said, I think many people would use the term Air Conditioning if the tents got cool, regardless of how it came about, so you could be right. |
Mecca is actually an ideal location to use evaporative ("swamp") cooling due to its high temperatures and low humidity.
It is often nearly as hot as Death Valley, 109 F yesterday. The vents at the tent peaks would be a part of such a system. The use of water is a problem, but not mine. |
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I wondered about the water use too. They sure do look like evaporative coolers! (source: I live in Phoenix, AZ therefore authoritative.) :cool: |
Don't they need a fairly big air flow to work properly?
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No not really. A little breeze in the tent but that's it.
If they were really mechanical air conditioning the required power grid/distribution would eclipse the tent metropolis in wow factor. Still amazingly impressive even with swamp coolers. |
OK, thanks for clearing that up. I thought swamp coolers needed a substantial air flow to operate properly. Being from the northeast I'm stuck with hearsay. :blush:
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There's a basic swamp cooler in the visitor center at Zion national park.
Basically just a big chimney with water dripping down from the top. You can sit on a bench at the "hearth" and a nice cool air falls from the chimney. It's very comfortable and the only cooling for the entire building, iirc. |
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Is there a game of Quidditch being held there?
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Did you see a golden snitch?
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