HVAC v/s 135,000 BTU oven. Drop ceiling?

[Blockbead]

Hello everyone,

I own a restaurant. The building is old, built in the early 1900's. We have a propane oven that runs all day and pumps out 135,000 BTU, not to mention the freezers and coolers, etc. The building is 25' x 75', pretty much all open space with the exception of bathrooms and an office. The ceiling is 152" high with a drop ceiling at the 95" mark. The previous owner installed roll insulation above the drop ceiling, just rolled it out, I think it is R-13. We have 2 5 ton r-22 Units cooling the building. We are located in Georgia, so it gets pretty hot in the summertime and the 5 ton located closest to the oven never shuts off. O.k. there is the setup, here is my question. With the ovens and coolers putting off all that heat would it be more efficient to remove the drop ceilings?. I understand that would be more square footage to cool, however part of me thinks those drop ceilings are just keeping all that heat down at our level rather than letting it rise.

Any help is greatly appreciated, this is something I have been thinking about for a long time.

 

[Gr8blu]

Blockbead You need to define what you mean by "efficiency" better. For example:
A) Will the air handlers use more electricity due to the lack of dropped ceiling/insulation? Probably, which means a LESS-efficient use of electricity.
B) Will the 5-ton unit nearest the oven actually start cycling? Probably not, so no improvement there.
c) Will the customers (and employees) "feel" like the place is cooler? Quite likely because heat does rise, and with higher ceilings it will be further from the average person. But not having any exhaust capability (for the hot air) will mean the coolness may only be a temporary condition.

Installing some heat pumps or something similar might also help you out a bit over the long haul, to take some of the load off those (presumably aging) coolers.

Converting energy to motion for more than half a century

 

[waross]

It may be more efficient to vent the heat from the oven outside and to cool the incoming make-up air.

--------------------
Ohm's law
Not just a good idea;
It's the LAW!

 

[Blockbead]

Thank you for the feedback
@waross The oven heat is being vented, I should've mentioned that. Cooling the fresh air intake may be the solution I am looking for. It's about time to change those ac units anyway, I wonder if I could replace one with the fresh air intake.

 

[SWComposites]

And if you are going to replace the AC units, look into heat pumps - much more energy efficient.

 

[waross]

Investigate the possibility of directing incoming air to the oven.
There is a good chance that you can get rid of the oven heat by passing outside ambient air over it rather than using air that you have paid to cool.

--------------------
Ohm's law
Not just a good idea;
It's the LAW!