Was it in doubt? I heard about Legionnaire's disease spreading through air conditioning 40+ years ago.
this post was submitted on 13 May 2026
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Its even part of standard testing protocol, and tests positive a lot...
What?? Sharing air can allow airborne disease to spread??
Typically in the hospital isolation rooms both have their own ventilation but also have negative pressure, it’s for a reason.
Jesus why would ducts be shared between units
"Attention, test prisoners attempting to escape through the air ducts. I don't know what nonsense you learned on TV, but in real life, air ducts just go to the air conditioning unit. It's also pretty dusty, so if you've got asthma, chances are you're gonna die up there. And we'll be smelling it for weeks because, again, the air ducts aren't a secret escape hatch, they're how we ventilate the facility."
You know Andy Weir, author of The Martian and Project Hail Mary? He wrote a comic strip back in the day with a villain who was, by religion, a stereotypical movie bad guy. So his fortress is in a volcano with his face carved on it, and it's full of flagrantly convenient air ducts.
Wut. I'm talking about super contagious viruses traveling in the air ducts.
It just reminded me of that Portal 2 line.
so you don't have to heat and cool 185 individual units one by one.
I know it's kinda gross but imagine every room in a house having it's own HVAC....?
Most modern apartments or condos in the US have their own HVAC. I’d say anything build in the last 50+ years at least.
Where are you where this is not common?
lived in apts from 2000-2015 - the ones in texas had their own AC, but elsewhere? Shared heating (steam fed radiators in ny) or large AC units on roofs pumping cold air into multiple units (VA, OR, WA)....
My apartment complex had individual central air for each unit, each with its own furnace and AC. Is that not common? I guess there were only 20 units per building, though.
A false analogy. Every room in a house is not every apartment in a building.
perhaps, but it's not that dramatically different - you share hallways, foyers, garages, but generally have control over a few select places - bedrooms, living rooms etc.
obviously this is a concern in some places otherwise why would they have written the article?
I don't think air ducts are needed for central heating.
It's much better to have individual AC units than have everyone get long covid because one person in the building was irresponsible
Of course ducts are needed for central heating with the exception of a boiler/radiator system.
You can do PTAC or mini splits to avoid ducts.
Neither of those are central heating.
I mean, I use one evaporator to condition the air on the first floor of my home. I get what you're saying, but a one bedroom apartment could be served by two PTACs.
Perhaps I've lost the thread of this conversation though.
Right, but "central heating" means that the heat is generated in one location then distributed to all other rooms via forced air or steam.
PATCs aren't a form of central heating
Who wouldn't use steam for central heating?
If it's cold enough to warrant central heating, you should probably distribute the heat in steam pipes.
Heat pumps are more efficient
Heat pumps can't create steam?
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To enjoy the smell of your neighbour's sardines
To save 15 euro for a flap and fan.
I mean it makes sense, public hallways are also usually pressurized so it keeps smells inside the units too. This would push anything pathogens from the hallways into the units.
God that's a bad design
Not really. The hallways need to be heated and supplied with fresh air, it keeps smells inside units, and if there’s burnt toast, the smoke isn’t making it into the hallways to evacuate the whole building when the alarms go off.
And everyone gets covid when one person has it. Good design
The air gets exchanged, if there wasn’t air being exchanged, what would be different? You would be exposed anytime you go into the hallways anyways.
Stick a towel, or get a better doorsweep and seal yours better.
Obviously wear masks in common hallways
Very interesting. I remember reading about the SARS case from before the pandemic. Make sure to run water through all your drains periodically!
You guys are getting ventilation? Best we got is a wall unit. Luckily we have heated floors, otherwise we'd also have to deal with electric radiant heaters along the floorboards.
I lived in an apartment for a summer in 2022 and the area didn't regulate cooling requirements since summers were very mild when the regulation was written. The building was new construction and only "cooled" common areas while exhausting through the apartments. At that point summers regularly had 95F/35C for ~6 weeks with peaks above 110F/43C and lows not dropping below 85F/29C.
Furthermore you could only crack the windows and one of the walls was entirely window. I had taped up foil and cardboard to block the sun.
Anyways the entire apartment building got covid simultaneously at the peak of the heat.
sure. why not?
Sky blue says star witness
Another win for steam heating.
Steam heating only covers one third of the functions of an HVAC system.
Usually I achieve the other two by opening some windows.