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.

The tents are segregated into several camps, each of which possesses its own exterior wall, and is connected to other camps by pathways. Each camp is equipped with a kitchen, bathrooms, and ablution facilities. Every tent is color-coded by country and numbered, and all the haajis are supposed to have badges with their color and number on it, in case they get lost.

More pictures.

They get air conditioned tents but they don't have to work as firefighters for it?!!! They're setting a bad example for our [post=906276]convicts[/post].

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.

gozar;906823 wrote:

Those look like evaporative coolers, not air conditioners.

Really, do you think they have that much extra water to waste?

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.

xoxoxoBruce;906827 wrote:

...I think many people would use the term Air Conditioning if the tents got cool, regardless of how it came about...

I guess you could called evap-cooled air "conditioned", and make the further distinction between evaporative cooling and refrigeration. This is an important distinction to someone who is living in Arizona during the annual Monsoon, when dew points rise to the point where evap cooling is no longer effective.

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?

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:

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.

http://bordelinecolonias.blogspot.com/2011/02/down-draft-chimneypower-station.html

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VS-d15vNqLo/TWK3rR6iS8I/AAAAAAAABVs/BBxNw7eWNOc/s1600/zion-visitors-center.jpg

Is there a game of Quidditch being held there?

Did you see a golden snitch?

xoxoxoBruce;907242 wrote:

Did you see a golden snitch?

Turn around.

Turner Brown?