how did ac work in older coaches with the high roofs that used ice in them?rambo1...
Take a look at this search I did. I can't figure out how to magnify the text but it appears that your question is answered. Pages 407, drawing on 408, 409
https://books.google.com/books?id=RAidPrpZUNQC&pg=PA409&lpg=PA409&dq=explanation+of+how+ice+air+conditioner+works+in+railroad+passenger+car&source=bl&ots=VOiqkCj3jG&sig=XEJDZeJy6XqP04az0fp54hFGQL0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAWoVChMIq_Ti6q2ByQIVi3g-Ch18XQD9#v=onepage&q=explanation%20of%20how%20ice%20air%20conditioner%20works%20in%20railroad%20passenger%20car&f=false
Edit:
If you're not a fan of following links, then here is what I typed into Google:
explanation of how ice air conditioner works in railroad passenger car
The ice blocks were in bunkers suspended from the car's underframe. Melt water from the ice was lifted by a sump pump, then passed through a cooling coil, which was located down-stream of the main blower fan. This is where the air was cooled, and it was then discharged into the car. The now-slightly-warmed melt water was returned to the ice bunkers, where it was re-cooled as it flowed over the ice blocks.
Wayne
how often did they have to replenice
how often did they have to fill up the ice buncker? rambo1..
or as I should ask how long did the ice last?
rambo1 or as I should ask how long did the ice last?
That would depend on how hot it was outside.
http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/cdm/ref/collection/nby_rrlife/id/185
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Here are a few quotes from the book that Andrew linked to above:
Three basic systems were adopted for railroad car air conditioning: Ice, steam ejector and mechanical. Ice was the simplest and least expensive in first cost...
First cost of an ice system was 60% of a mechanical system and maintenance was one third of a mechanical system.
One of the first railroads to to adopt the ice system was the Boston & Maine. It was drawn into the experiment through the self interest of the Metropolitan Ice Company of Boston which sponsored the tests.
For an average New England summer—short and relatively mild— the ice system made sense. The investment was small, and the trains did not have to haul the dead weight of a mechanical system. In cool months the ice bunkers were empty, thus eliminating the greatest portion of the system's dead weight.
By 1939 the country's railroads had nearly 3,800 ice-cooled cars. After this time, however, the defects of the system were recognized as overwhelming. Ice was never really effective for sustained hot weather such as encountered in the Southwest. It was expensive to operate: at $5.29 per 1,000 miles, it cost five times more to use than mechanical air conditioning. This cost was directly related to that seemingly cheap commodity, ice. It was not the price per pound but the quantity consumed and the labor required to handle it at the storage depots enroute. A railroad car consumed approximately 500 lbs of ice per hour. Fifteen 300-pound blocks equaled 4,500 pounds of ice—enough for nine hours, or 360 miles. Some roads installed giant 8,000 pound-capacity boxes on their cars, but the basic disadvantages of the ice system remained unsolved.
After 1945 almost no new ice-cooled cars entered service and those already running were gradually converted or retired.
The American Railroad Passenger Car by John H. White, Jr.
Interesting subject, Ed