Historically temperatures above 30C (86F) were rare in Europe, so thats what many ACs are sized for. Now they face 40C (104F), and many AC installations can't keep up

Shutting down AC on floors 1 to 7 likely allows them to get better performance on floors 8 to 13

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2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

[deleted]

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mytailorisrich 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

That's not true. Temperature above 30C are the norm in summer in Southern Europe (which means quite higher in the Sun and in a heat trap location). Now, yes 40C isn't.

But I am unconvinced that AC manufacturers have different "sizing"... An AC unit is for hot places and the outdoor unit may be in a very hot spots with ambient easily above 40C.

Edit: Yes, AC systems for a whole building are different but still the system on the roof experiences the full Sun and very hot conditions, this isn't the issue. Perhaps they simply badly designed it so that it hasn't got the capacity to cool the whole building when it's actually hot so they prioritised (actually now I get that this is what you meant). Obviously it is easier to blame "weather conditions"...

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Arnt an hour ago | parent | next [-]

That building doesn't have the kind of outdoor unit you're thinking of, it has central climate control and gadgetry on the roof. You can see it on Google Maps.

Also 19 satellite antennae, if my count is right.

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wongarsu an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

Brussels is however not in Southern Europe

By sizing I simply mean the number and capacity of roof units. Cooling an office building down by 8C is a lot easier than cooling it by 18C. I doubt half the roof units are shut down. Maybe some are, but most will have their output redirected to cooling the top half of the building

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mytailorisrich an hour ago | parent [-]

In which case it would be just plain bad design if you can't have the whole building on AC when you actually need it...

Edit: it'd be interesting to know how many buildings in Belgium have had the same issue.

	▲	gambiting 27 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		You can leave it on when you actually need it - meaning all summer long, in the conditions that are typical for that location. It's like saying what's the point of having a house if you aren't safe in it during a tornado. It's an exceptional event. The problem is that these truly exceptional events which only happened once every 10 days for a day or two, are now becoming a norm. My own 12k BTU minisplit could cool my house down every summer, no problem, even down to 18C if I wanted it to. But in the recent heatwave it just can't keep up, there is more heat coming into the house than the system can remove.