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Comment by _greim_ | Hacker News Reader

This reminds me of a story; a buddy of mine during my college days lived in a solitary townhome adjoining a million-watt microwave emitter room. The thing produced enough waste heat to warm the apartment in the dead of winter, even with all the doors and windows open, plus the adjoining warehouse which was several times the volume of the dwelling.

I was envious at the time, although now I wonder about the health implications of the setup, and whether it was strictly speaking legal. The guy is alive and well today, fortunately.

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It was probably fine; microwaves are fairly easily blocked by even a very thin metal screening. The main health issue with microwaves is the heating caused by it.

The eyes are usually what is damaged first because they tick all 3 boxes of:

* Easily damaged by heat

* High water content

* No good way of shedding heat

Testicles hit the last two, and the degree to which the first is true is debated.

> It was probably fine; microwaves are fairly easily blocked by even a very thin metal screening.

That makes sense in retrospect, given we humans routinely stand with our noses pressed against thinly-screened microwave oven windows waiting for food to heat, apparently without health effects!

He lived in a house like this?

https://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/simpsons/images/1/18/Th...

Your description makes it sound like the most bizarre mixed use building. Townhouse/industrial equipment shed/warehouse is quite the combo. I can't imagine how they classified that for tax purposes or what the land was zoned for.

Assuming the actual emitters were high above his head and fairly directional then it probably wasn't a health nightmare, the heat would have mostly been waste heat from transformers, but it's probably not ideal.

What did he do in the summer? I guess it's school so he wouldn't be there for the hottest part, but there is still part of August and September as well as May and possibly June.

> He lived in a house like this? ...

Append a giant concrete warehouse to the side and move the tower into the back yard and, yes.

> Your description makes it sound like the most bizarre mixed use building.

Agreed on all points :) I should ask next time I see him about the zoning. I speculate it was some kind of employee/maintenance quarters. His job was to go into the transformer room once per day and make sure the green light was still blinking. (Kidding, not sure what the arrangement was :)

> Assuming the actual emitters were high above his head and fairly directional...

The tower was quite tall, and I was told perfectly safe to climb for most of the height, then suddenly fatal! I understood it to be more or less horizontally omnidirectional. I'm definitely not an expert in the tech. Also I think he could redirect the heat to the outside during warmer months.

> I was told perfectly safe to climb for most of the height, then suddenly fatal!

I used to know a couple of radio engineers, and this sounds about right. The owners of the radio stations would pay them extra if they did tower maintenance without shutting the station down. They all had weird swirly RF burn scars on their forearms.

> His job was to go into the transformer room once per day and make sure the green light was still blinking. (Kidding, not sure what the arrangement was :)

Ah, but did he have a dog whose job was to bite him if he tried to touch any buttons?

I wonder what would happen if you heavily shielded the walls, but ran a heat exchanger through. Free baseboard heating?

I think that's essentially what they did. I got to go into the transmitter room and see the 1' diameter copper pipe which I was told carried the radiation out and up to the tower, and which not to approach too closely.

That would be a circular waveguide. Very common for radar setups.

This whole story sounds horrifically dangerous and unlikely to be approved of with regards to zoning and building inspectors.

By that, I mean I'm a tad bit green with envy.

My thoughts exactly. If I ever write a hard sci-fi novel I want to adapt this setting somehow.

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