Shows what a well engineered design is capable of - from the Grand Rapids, Michigan station WOOD:
1980s computer controls GRPS heat and AC
A 30-year-old computer that has run day and night for decades is what controls the heat and air conditioning at 19 Grand Rapids Public Schools.
The Commodore Amiga was new to GRPS in the early 1980s and it has been working tirelessly ever since. GRPS Maintenance Supervisor Tim Hopkins said that the computer was purchased with money from an energy bond in the 1980s. It replaced a computer that was “about the size of a refrigerator.”
The computer is responsible for turning the heat and the air conditioners on and off for 19 school buildings.
“The system controls the start/stop of boilers, the start/stop of fans, pumps, [it] monitors space temperatures, and so on,” Hopkins explained.
A Kentwood High School student programmed it when it was installed in the 1980s. Whenever the district has a problem with it, they go back to the original programmer who still lives in the area.
Talk about reliable - they will get around to replacing it but it still works so the urgency is not there.
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