Muhlenberg College > Student Life > Residential Services > Housing Services > AC Policy Muhlenberg College Air Conditioner Policy Purpose The purpose of this policy is to provide information for the Muhlenberg College community on the requirements for eligibility for air conditioning in student housing, the guidelines for window units and the process for having a unit installed. Policy A request for air conditioning with appropriate documentation must be submitted to Student Health Services (Fax #484-664-3522). All requests will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and documentation of a need for air conditioning does not guarantee that your application will be approved. Also, there is no guarantee that you will be housed in an area equipped with central air. If you select to live in a residence hall without central air, you need to provide your own window unit. Requirements and Process Documentation from the physician providing care is required indicating a need for air conditioning.

The student or the student's physician must provide documentation to the Director of Student Health Services (Fax #484-664-3522). Approvals are determined on a case by case basis by the Director of Student Health Services, and are dependent upon the documentation received relative to the severity of illness and the availability of rooms that are centrally air conditioned or have the capability of supporting a window AC unit. The documentation must include the diagnosis, treatment plan, and any additional information that would support the need for this intervention. hvac unit coverPhysician notes on a prescription such as "Please provide an air conditioner for my patient due to allergies" will not be accepted as documenting the need. small room hvac systemPriority will be given to those students who have provided documented evidence of exacerbation of chronic respiratory diseases including asthma, chronic medical conditions, and those receiving allergy injections on a regular basis. maintenance on air handling unit

Documentation needs to be up dated each year to maintain eligibility. All request must be received by June 5th for the following academic year. The College uses ADA standards to determine pre-lottery housing. Simply needing air conditioning is not a reason to be housed before the campus body. Residence Halls with Central Air Benfer Hall - 8 person suite styled building, once heat is on AC does not work, suites need to be filled in order to live in this building, houses upper-class students Taylor Hall - double rooms with heat and AC systems that work independently, houses upper-class students Robertson and South Halls - 4 person suite styled building, systems work independently, suites need to be filled in order to live in these buildings, A/C outdoor unit does not work when outdoor air temperature is 47F or lower, houses upper-class students The Village - 4 and 5 person suite styled building, systems work independently, suites need to be filled in order to live in these buildings, houses upper-class students Walz Hall - double rooms

, once heat is on AC does not work on first 3 floors, houses first year students 2201 Chew St - 4 person suite styled building, systems work independently, suites need to be filled in order to live in these buildings, houses upper-class students Prosser Hall Ground Annex. East Hall- double,single and triple rooms with heat and AC systems that work independently. Residence Halls where window units can be installed Brown Hall Martin Luther Hall Window Unit Requirements: No higher than 14" No more than 120 volts No more than 7000 BTUs Must be Energy Star rated (Read the President's Greening Committee Statement regarding this requirement) Need extension cord that is 12-3 wire with a ground for A/C units. The College does not provide extension cords. Installation Information In order to ensure window units are installed correctly, the Plant Operations staff must install them. Once you have been approved by the Health Center, you will receive an email reminding you of what needs to occur.

Requests approved once the school year has started will normally be installed within a 3 business day period.Written As Jonathan Losh explained, a vapor compression air conditioner's sole purpose in life is to move heat from one space to another.  It could be moving heat from the inside of your refrigerator to your house, from inside your house to the great outdoors or from the inside of your car to outside.If you want to heat with this cycle, "simply" turn it around.  (Its really not that simple.)  This is the basic concept of a "heat pump".  They are air conditioners that in the summer take heat from your house and push it outside.  In the winter, the cycle reverses and it pulls heat from outdoors and pushes it into the house.  It works efficiently down to around 10 to 20F outside at which point it is typically to cold to pull the heat out of the outdoors efficiently.Could you simply take a window A/C unit and install it backwards to provide heat?  In theory, yes, but you will have a lot of problems. 

First, most of those units are factory set to prevent them from trying to cool to a temperature less than 55F.  That means if it is colder than 55F outside, it won't provide heat.If you override this feature (search for controllers that can turn a window A/C unit into a walk-in cooler controller), the next problem will be when the air temperature is under 40F.   To get heat to move, the cold surface of an A/C unit must be less then the air it is pulling heat from.  So if it is 38F outside, the refrigerant must be around 30F.  This is below freezing so moisture in the air will freeze on the coil.  Real heat pumps have a defrost cycle to deal with this.  Your window unit will just freeze solid and no longer provide heat.Again, in theory it would work but you would need to know the various problems to look for to keep it running.Written First let's talk about how air conditioners work.  The vapor-compression refrigeration cycle is a process that works via a chemical refrigerant that carries heat from one part of the system in your air conditioner to another and then releases it.

The chemical is compressed into a high pressure, extremely hot gas that is pumped into a long tube called a ‘coil’. As the refrigerant flows through the coil, heat is extracted through a fan. After it has cooled down, the gas is transformed back into a liquid state and is then passed into an expansion valve, which lowers the pressure of the chemical before pumping into the ‘evaporator’.The evaporator is where the chemical turns into a gas by pulling heat from the air. As gas absorbs the heat, the cold air produced is blown into the room.It is recommended to use an air condition as a heat pump instead of using a conventional heater. Heat pumps are becoming more popular in the eco-friendly world, especially when it comes to where and how we spend our money.A heat pump uses less electricity than a heater because conventional resistance heaters convert the electricity into heat. This means heat pumps are far more energy efficient.If you are still curious about the functions of air conditioners, check out our blog to find out what's inside!