Wow, yes this is a science. It took me a long time to figure out my
theatre's heating and cooling. It mostly had to do with vent locations, orientations, and zone assignments. Luckily, I'm able to personally manage the electronic
system. These are just thermostat temperature settings, not actual thermometer readings. My temps might be extreme to someone that isn't in a desert (70 degrees is cool here).
In the summer I have it set up to where the
theatre system turns on cool if it were to reach 85 degrees in the
theatre space. I set the fan to pump in the cooler outside air for about 45 mins just before sunrise. Usually this
system keeps the place cool enough where the refrigerated air doesn't come on (stays below 85). When people are working in the space, the thermostat is turned down, and during shows it is set at 70. The
stage is normally set at 64 degrees mid summer, and on cooler days just the
stage fans are on.
During the winter, I keep it cooler than comfortable as a cost saving measure. For shows I set the
stage and the
lobby at 69 a couple hours before
house opens. If anticipating a close to full
house, the whole
system will be turned off when
house opens for the duration of the show. If I don't do this, the balcony will be a furnace. If anticipating a half
house, I'll bring the temp down to 65 degrees in the
house.
It has been below freezing the past couple of days here. On
Sunday I will have a choral performance with at least 60 people on
stage. The
house heaters will be on and the
stage will be completely off with fans running to cool it down. Ahh, the pleasures of an old
theatre...
I've developed this
system over the past couple of years--we have seen energy savings and client comfort improvement. If anyone else sees flaws in my
system let me know as I'm constantly working on this issue as well.