Heats comes on when the Balcony door opens.....Grandeur

[LuckiStac13*Majesty*]

Hey :)

 

I know this may sound crazy, or maybe it sounds normal to you guys, but every single time we opened the Balcony door on the Grandeur, the Heat immediately came on and made it so warm that we could keep the balcony door open for more than 5 minutes. Now, I know they don't want you to keep the door open to conserve energy, but isn't this a little drastic? has anyone experienced this??

[dixieva]

No, that did not happen in our cabin. We did not leave the door open much because it was very hot on our cruise. But when we did, the heat did not come on.

[mooie74]

DW and I were on Grandeur 2 years ago, one afternoon we had the balcony door open and the fire alarm went off! We called and asked what was going on, and were told that, yeah, keeping the door open can cause that.

 

Sure enough, we closed the door and the alarm went off. It must have had something to do with temp. differential between the cabin and outside, because that only happened on the hottest day, other days we were fine.

[Hypo]

Most, if not all, of the balcony doors have a microswitch or magnetic switch that causes the cool air dampers for your cabin to close when the door is open. This keeps the ship from trying to air condition the outside!

 

Some people have reported success using a small magnetic, strategically placed over the switch on the door frame to fool the AC to staying on.

 

Hypo

[Ltvscout]

Most, if not all, of the balcony doors have a microswitch or magnetic switch that causes the cool air dampers for your cabin to close when the door is open. This keeps the ship from trying to air condition the outside!

 

Some people have reported success using a small magnetic, strategically placed over the switch on the door frame to fool the AC to staying on.

Yes, this (placing magnet on switch) worked for us on the Miracle last year. Carnival's balcony doors are the standard swingout kind. We're going to see how a magnet works on the sliding balcony doors of the Jewel in March. ;)

[Merion_Mom]

This keeps the ship from trying to air condition the outside!

 

Sheesh!

 

Or you people could STOP trying to prop your balcony door open, and then the energy won't be wasted trying to aircondition the outside!

 

Stay in.

 

Go out.

 

Make up your mind.

 

Didn't you learn ANYTHING from your mother??????

 

:p

[Kruzeagain]

Re conserving energy, I might be mistaken but the bulk of RCI's fleet uses diesel-electric propulsion (think locomotives) whereby a number of diesel engines don't directly propel the ship through the water. Instead, each of the engines is actually a large power generator that in turn transfers their power to electrical motors that power virtually all of the ship's electrical needs. This includes everything from the massive propellers to the tiniest light bulbs.

 

Not to get stupidly technical here, but diesel generators actually become more energy-efficient at full load than at partial load. So do I fret about losing a bit of chilled air to the Caribbean through my balcony doors? No. They're running those 16-cylinder diesels regardless.

 

Happy Cruising,

Alan

[rsscaptain]

Re conserving energy, I might be mistaken but the bulk of RCI's fleet uses diesel-electric propulsion (think locomotives) whereby a number of diesel engines don't directly propel the ship through the water. Instead, each of the engines is actually a large power generator that in turn transfers their power to electrical motors that power virtually all of the ship's electrical needs. This includes everything from the massive propellers to the tiniest light bulbs.

 

Not to get stupidly technical here, but diesel generators actually become more energy-efficient at full load than at partial load. So do I fret about losing a bit of chilled air to the Caribbean through my balcony doors? No. They're running those 16-cylinder diesels regardless.

 

Happy Cruising,

Alan

 

Good point, however I ask this? I'm running around changing the light bulbs in our house, unplugging unused items, like chargers and the like, and learning what I can personally do about global warming. How do cruise ships fit into this scenario? I know airplanes certainly are causing havoc to this situation.

[wraithe]

Re conserving energy, I might be mistaken but the bulk of RCI's fleet uses diesel-electric propulsion (think locomotives) whereby a number of diesel engines don't directly propel the ship through the water. Instead, each of the engines is actually a large power generator that in turn transfers their power to electrical motors that power virtually all of the ship's electrical needs. This includes everything from the massive propellers to the tiniest light bulbs.

 

Not to get stupidly technical here, but diesel generators actually become more energy-efficient at full load than at partial load. So do I fret about losing a bit of chilled air to the Caribbean through my balcony doors? No. They're running those 16-cylinder diesels regardless.

 

Happy Cruising,

Alan

 

All true and well said with one small issue, if they don't need the power for propulsion or hotel loads, they secure an engine, so there may only be three diesels running on a Vision class ship, or 4 or 5 on a Voyager/Freedom class ship. This makes the fully loaded engines that are running more efficient. Now if you have enough people trying to air condition the Caribbean, they may have to run additional engines. Another bit of trivia, the Grandeur uses about 230 tons of heavy fuel oil a day at full power, 4 engines, and if able to secure a diesel engine, that drops by about 25% (according to Captain Admarker). In order to make things more efficient, they use the waste exhaust heat from the diesels to make fresh water through evaporators. Radiance class ships are different, since they use gas turbines to directly run generators, and the waste heat from the turbines exhaust generates steam to run another turbine-electric generator. They're going to add a diesel engine to Radiance class engine rooms for use while in port. The turbines use nearly as much fuel idling as they do fully loaded, so a diesel engine would be dramatically more efficient in port with no propulsion loads. Happy sailing to you as well, cause it's always great when cruising.

[Annefran]

All true and well said with one small issue, if they don't need the power for propulsion or hotel loads, they secure an engine, so there may only be three diesels running on a Vision class ship, or 4 or 5 on a Voyager/Freedom class ship. This makes the fully loaded engines that are running more efficient. Now if you have enough people trying to air condition the Caribbean, they may have to run additional engines. Another bit of trivia, the Grandeur uses about 230 tons of heavy fuel oil a day at full power, 4 engines, and if able to secure a diesel engine, that drops by about 25% (according to Captain Admarker). In order to make things more efficient, they use the waste exhaust heat from the diesels to make fresh water through evaporators. Radiance class ships are different, since they use gas turbines to directly run generators, and the waste heat from the turbines exhaust generates steam to run another turbine-electric generator. They're going to add a diesel engine to Radiance class engine rooms for use while in port. The turbines use nearly as much fuel idling as they do fully loaded, so a diesel engine would be dramatically more efficient in port with no propulsion loads. Happy sailing to you as well, cause it's always great when cruising.

Wow my head hurts now....just kidding :D :p

[masterbaker]

My DH operates gas turbine generators for FPL at one of their power plants. They are at the peak efficiency running at the top. It actually costs the company more to produce power when they have to cycle the units off and on.

[rwillis9]

My Father In Law works at a fresh water plant on the great lakes in MI. They have to take the water and force it uphill over 30+ miles to the city. He took me on a tour of it last year and all I can say is wow when I saw the generators. They take so much $ to start them it was amazing. He said it could cost anywhere between 5,000 to 20,000 depending on the time of day and which generator. Needless to say, they rarerly cycle them down. They just reduce the load and only stop when necessary (or when someone screws something up.) I could only image how much it would cost to cycle something on a cruise ship.

[michigan tim]

Went to the Captain Rob's talk on the Grandeur about a month ago. He stated there are 4 64k HP diesel engines; 2 were in use, 1 was a spare and 1 was in the midst of being rebuilt (on the fly!). He said this was the typical arrangement on this class of ship... 2 in use, 1 spare and 1 always being rebuilt.

[madforcruising]

Most, if not all, of the balcony doors have a microswitch or magnetic switch that causes the cool air dampers for your cabin to close when the door is open. This keeps the ship from trying to air condition the outside!

 

Some people have reported success using a small magnetic, strategically placed over the switch on the door frame to fool the AC to staying on.

 

Hypo

 

That´s one of the CC rumours I keep reading about on the boards. For the RCCL ships I´ve been on it´s definitely NOT true. There are no magnets on the doors of Vision Class and Radiance Class ships. Air condition keeps running regardless of the opening/closing of the balcony door.

 

However of course if it´s hot outside the A/C won´t be able to cool down your room with the door open.

 

 

 

Yes, this (placing magnet on switch) worked for us on the Miracle last year. Carnival's balcony doors are the standard swingout kind. We're going to see how a magnet works on the sliding balcony doors of the Jewel in March. ;)

 

I don´t know about Carnival ships, never been on one, but I know for sure your magnet will be a total loss on the Jewel of the Seas as there is no switch to place it over.

[madforcruising]

Most, if not all, of the balcony doors have a microswitch or magnetic switch that causes the cool air dampers for your cabin to close when the door is open. This keeps the ship from trying to air condition the outside!

 

Some people have reported success using a small magnetic, strategically placed over the switch on the door frame to fool the AC to staying on.

 

Hypo

 

That´s one of the CC rumours I keep reading about on the boards. For the RCCL ships I´ve been on it´s definitely NOT true. There are no magnets on the doors of Vision Class and Radiance Class ships. Air condition keeps running regardless of the opening/closing of the balcony door.

 

However of course if it´s hot outside the A/C won´t be able to cool down your room with the door open.

 

 

 

Yes, this (placing magnet on switch) worked for us on the Miracle last year. Carnival's balcony doors are the standard swingout kind. We're going to see how a magnet works on the sliding balcony doors of the Jewel in March. ;)

 

I don´t know about Carnival ships, never been on one, but I know for sure your magnet will be a total loss on the Jewel of the Seas as there is no switch to place it over.

[madforcruising]

Most, if not all, of the balcony doors have a microswitch or magnetic switch that causes the cool air dampers for your cabin to close when the door is open. This keeps the ship from trying to air condition the outside!

 

Some people have reported success using a small magnetic, strategically placed over the switch on the door frame to fool the AC to staying on.

 

Hypo

 

That´s one of the CC rumours I keep reading about on the boards. For the RCCL ships I´ve been on it´s definitely NOT true. There are no magnets on the doors of Vision Class and Radiance Class ships. Air condition keeps running regardless of the opening/closing of the balcony door.

 

However of course if it´s hot outside the A/C won´t be able to cool down your room with the door open.

 

 

 

Yes, this (placing magnet on switch) worked for us on the Miracle last year. Carnival's balcony doors are the standard swingout kind. We're going to see how a magnet works on the sliding balcony doors of the Jewel in March. ;)

 

I don´t know about Carnival ships, never been on one, but I know for sure your magnet will be a total loss on the Jewel of the Seas as there is no switch to place it over.

[madforcruising]

Re conserving energy, I might be mistaken but the bulk of RCI's fleet uses diesel-electric propulsion (think locomotives) whereby a number of diesel engines don't directly propel the ship through the water. Instead, each of the engines is actually a large power generator that in turn transfers their power to electrical motors that power virtually all of the ship's electrical needs. This includes everything from the massive propellers to the tiniest light bulbs.

 

Not to get stupidly technical here, but diesel generators actually become more energy-efficient at full load than at partial load. So do I fret about losing a bit of chilled air to the Caribbean through my balcony doors? No. They're running those 16-cylinder diesels regardless.

 

Happy Cruising,

Alan

 

I´m sooo glad you are saving the world for all of us:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

 

I need a *shaking my head about that much ignorance* smiley here;)

[wraithe]

Went to the Captain Rob's talk on the Grandeur about a month ago. He stated there are 4 64k HP diesel engines; 2 were in use, 1 was a spare and 1 was in the midst of being rebuilt (on the fly!). He said this was the typical arrangement on this class of ship... 2 in use, 1 spare and 1 always being rebuilt.

 

Just to clarify, that's 64K HP for all four engines, Grandeur is equipped with MAN/B&W 12V48/60 diesels. Total propulsion HP at full propulsion is 44K HP through two electric engines, which would require three diesels running just to power full speed propulsion (which is used much more often when sailing from Baltimore). They don't have to use full speed as much when they're sailing from Gulf of Mexico ports, so probably can get by with two or three engines, vs. three or four when sailing from Baltimore. They do rebuild the engines on the fly, I have pictures of a "spare" piston, connecting rod, and cylinder sleeve on the Mariner.

[Ltvscout]

I don´t know about Carnival ships, never been on one, but I know for sure your magnet will be a total loss on the Jewel of the Seas as there is no switch to place it over.

Well, there has to be some type of switch in use, otherwise the A/C would not shut off when the door is slid open. If it's a mechanical switch, we'll just use some duct tape on it to keep the A/C activated. ;)

[zantedeschia]

I think the biggest concern is when the door is open, the a/c unit works harder to keep it cool and dehumidified and breaks down sooner.

[zantedeschia]

....

[nanfromatlanta]

Sheesh!

 

Or you people could STOP trying to prop your balcony door open, and then the energy won't be wasted trying to aircondition the outside!

 

Stay in.

 

Go out.

 

Make up your mind.

 

Didn't you learn ANYTHING from your mother??????

 

:p

 

ROTFL!! How right you are. Some folks always need to find out the hard way.

[madforcruising]

Well, there has to be some type of switch in use, otherwise the A/C would not shut off when the door is slid open. If it's a mechanical switch, we'll just use some duct tape on it to keep the A/C activated. ;)

 

 

There is no such switch, neither magnetic nor mechanical and the A/C does NOT shut off when the door is open. Tho when it´s hot and humid the A/C is not strong enough to keep the heat outside.

 

Get real folks, you can´t cool down the outside:rolleyes:

 

Non of the RCCL ships I´ve been on had such a switch it´s an urban legend from these boards.