X-Message-Number: 2373
Date: Wed, 4 Aug 1993 12:17:04 MST
From: "Richard Schroeppel" <>
Subject: CRYONICS Phoenix site - reassurance

I received the following private answer to my post about the Phoenix site.
The sender invited me to post the information, minus his name.  -- Rich
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"Richard Schroeppel" <> writes:

>A couple of other things to think about in a Phoenix site:
>
>(1) Proximity to a flood.  In February, the Gila river flooded near Phoenix,
>    nearly closing Interstate 10.  Check that the new building is not too
>    close to a wash, and the relative altitude of the basement.

No nearby washes.  That area is close to flat, and on the far side of 
the airport from us is flood diversion dam.  If there was a flood 
worse than the 3 or 4 500 and 1000 year floods the Phoenix area has 
seen in the last decade or so, the water would never get very deep 
because it has so much area to spread out.  And, no basement.  :) 

>
>(2) Is air conditioning a problem?  Phoenix has a number of near 110F days
>    each year.  This might be a trivial consideration, but I haven't done
>    the numbers.  Also, to what extent does patient safety depend on
>    functional A/C for the ordinary building space?  I assume LN2 boiloff
>    goes up as the surrounding air temperature rises; does +30F matter?

This building is relatively new, built since the price of energy went 
up so much.  So the insulation is first class.  (Part of the building 
is a cold storage area.)  I was there in the middle of the summer when 
the outside temp was 114 deg outside, and it was tolerable inside even 
without any of the air conditioners on in that section.  If a lot of 
lights and machines were on, running some of the 21 air conditioners 
would be mandatory to get rid of the generated heat.  Re LN2 boiloff, 
the increase is proportional to the delta T.  In deg F, LN2 is -422?  
[77K = -196C = -321F, doesn't affect argument --rcs]
call it 500 deg F delta to room.  Plus 30 F will increase the boiloff 
by 530/500, call it 6%.  We can see the variation in LN2 use winter to 
summer in Riverside where the patient care bay is unairconditioned. 

>
>(3) Is the building too close to the airport?  There's a small extra risk
>    of being under a plane crash, and of being eminent-domained in an
>    airport expansion.

The building is a city block or so off to the side of the runway.  
Given that this building has fire sprinklers, and the one we are in 
does not, I think the relative risk to the patients will go down some. 
Scottsdale is a secondary airport, mostly home to expensive private 
jets.  There are so many new expensive buildings near this one is that 
it would be a very unlikely thing for the airport to be expanded that 
direction. 

>
>Rich Schroeppel   

PS, If you would like to go see, ask for directions from Alcor.
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