Has anyone worked in the White house before?

[Vinpadalino]

Just interested in what type of equipment they use for heating, cooling, water heating etc?

[timebuilder]

An engineer friend did some retrfitting designs for the Pentagon, and that work was considered to be confidential in nature, so I think the same would be true for the White House.

[Diceman]

I know someone who never did any work in there.............I think he lives in Texas now.

[karsthuntr]

The National Park Service oversaw the installation of three solar energy systems on the White House grounds in 2002. A system of 167 photovoltaic panels was placed on the roof of the central maintenance building. A solar thermal application for providing hot water for the grounds maintenance staff was added to this building as well. A third system was integrated into the roof of the cabana adjacent to the pool and spa; it heats a hot tub and shower, with overflow energy directed to the outdoor pool.

[Chuckg222]

I know someone who never did any work in there.............I think he lives in Texas now.

I know him, we went to different schools together

[DeltaT]

The White House has it's own chiller system, actually two, that condition the entire structure along with other "modern" features in an attempt to keep up with modern technology.

You, as a citizen, will never see these systems or any parts of the systems even on a tour of the White house due to two reasons. The first being security. There is absoulety no way to approach the location of the mechanical equipment. Second, the White House is kept "pure" by the Parks Department in an attempt to keep it almost the way it was when rebuilt. Mind you, I said rebuilt as the British did a job on it back in 1812.

Now stepping back many, many years. The workmanship done in the White House by a steamfitter for installing pneumatic controls was and is unbelievable. I only wish I could get all of you guys into the facilities managers office and see the original control board there and that use to be through-out the building. The workmanship is/was amazing.

The structure of the White House itself is amazing. It's built to last and that's pretty much as far as can be said.

All of us should be proud of our White House and it's history. And that includes 99% of the Federal Buildings. And that also include the Federal Employees who keep a constant vigil on these buildings. The amazing part is that we, as the general public, never see these dedicated and hard working crews of many that keep the buildings safe and sound.

[midhvac]

All of us should be proud of our White House and it's history. And that includes 99% of the Federal Buildings. And that also include the Federal Employees who keep a constant vigil on these buildings. The amazing part is that we, as the general public, never see these dedicated and hard working crews of many that keep the buildings safe and sound.

We must be about the same age. Sounds just like the audio from one of those old 16mm movies I watched back in grade school.

Fess up Delta. You found that old video on You Tube.

[DeltaT]

Probably if you look close at some of those old videos I'm probably in them.

Seriously, if you guys could only see the old type craftsman ship of when those buildings were made.

I was in one of the machine rooms for one of the museums and standing before me purring like a kitten was an open winding electril motor of the 30's or so era that had been running constantly, except for maintenance, since the day it was first started.

And this was at least a 100 HP fan motor the size of a one car garage.

And air handlers the size of a home built to last forever. Duct work that was bolted together along with damper systems that were two stories high with the entire machine room working like a great chorus.

I don't know if it's still there or not but directly across from the Capitol was/is the Teamsters building. As you walk into the main lobby the machine room, chillers and all, are behind glass walls to the right.

The floors were highly pollished, not one leak on anything. The chillers and motors of all sort were humming as if they were tuned to work that way. It's a show case, if it's still there, as to the workmanship of the union guys that build this kind of stuff.

Inside the lower lever of the Treasury Dept use to be - I'm sure now - machine rooms that we still in the 30's and 40's. And the equipment, including the maintenance department, still had all the original stuff working and in perfect condition.

I had to do some work in the Dept. of Agriculture of their fire/security system where the central panel went from the floor to the high ceiling. Tons of relays and switches all wired with precision, all horizontal or vertical runs........it was a piece of art.

[Diceman]

I might for president just so I can see that.

[glennwith2ns]

I know someone who never did any work in there.............I think he lives in Texas now.

I think that its a HOT air system in there now and soon to be upgraded

[midhvac]

Probably if you look close at some of those old videos I'm probably in them.

Seriously, if you guys could only see the old type craftsman ship of when those buildings were made.

I was in one of the machine rooms for one of the museums and standing before me purring like a kitten was an open winding electril motor of the 30's or so era that had been running constantly, except for maintenance, since the day it was first started.

And this was at least a 100 HP fan motor the size of a one car garage.

And air handlers the size of a home built to last forever. Duct work that was bolted together along with damper systems that were two stories high with the entire machine room working like a great chorus.

I don't know if it's still there or not but directly across from the Capitol was/is the Teamsters building. As you walk into the main lobby the machine room, chillers and all, are behind glass walls to the right.

The floors were highly pollished, not one leak on anything. The chillers and motors of all sort were humming as if they were tuned to work that way. It's a show case, if it's still there, as to the workmanship of the union guys that build this kind of stuff.

Inside the lower lever of the Treasury Dept use to be - I'm sure now - machine rooms that we still in the 30's and 40's. And the equipment, including the maintenance department, still had all the original stuff working and in perfect condition.

I had to do some work in the Dept. of Agriculture of their fire/security system where the central panel went from the floor to the high ceiling. Tons of relays and switches all wired with precision, all horizontal or vertical runs........it was a piece of art.

Now I get what you were talking about. That would leave a heck of an impression on you. Most of the people that installed that stuff are probably dead.

[DeltaT]

Now I get what you were talking about. That would leave a heck of an impression on you. Most of the people that installed that stuff are probably dead.

They are. I know for a fact on the lead mechanic that installed all the original central pneumatic control panel mounted in the lead supervisior office near the machine room has passed on as I use to work with his son.

Behind this paner there were about 100 to 200 90 degree hand done 1/4 copper tubing ells...done with a tubing bender of course. Those were all connected to various controls or indicators.

You could look right down the line behind the panel, which was exposed, and see true craftsmanship as each and every bend and connection was perfectly in line with the many, many others. I've never seen work like this particular example.

It's probably acceptable to talk about now because my experience were 30 years ago but the Park Department insisted that any work done was focused on not having the modern world show in inside or outside the White House.

So wall mounted thermostats were our of the quesition, as another example, so the White House has asperating thermostats that have matching wall paper over the panels. They are completly invisible to the ordinary eye as you go through the White House.

The Parks Dept goes to unbelievable extent to keep this building pure. And GSA takes care of all the other government building and they pretty much do the same.

Whenever I was involved with these departments everything got slow, very slow while every detail was gone over.

And I thought that was bad then I got involved with buildings in McLean, VA where the head guy got a new office. I had to deal with meetings after meetings of a table full of people of all backgrounds just on the comfort control systems alone.

Just the fact that I had blue prints to this guys office and knew the location of the office and the related machine room put me under a lot of eyes.

Interesting days, those were.

[Danimal535]

If i told ya I would have to kill ya its a national secret