Results and Discussion
Overall temperature comparison
Average hourly temperatures for the month of August are presented in Figure 2 for each study barn. The average temperatures shown for Hour 1 represent the means of the average temperatures from midnight to 1 a.m. throughout the month (representing a maximum of 31 days). Within each day, hourly temperatures represent the average of 10-minute readings from either a single sensor (outside temperature) or the four sensors in each barn (inside temperature).
Inside air temperature tracked outdoor temperature fairly closely in each of the study barns. The tunnel-ventilated barns displayed a slight advantage during the heat of the day for each pair of comparison barns. Mean inside air temperature was usually within 1°F of mean outdoor temperature during mid-afternoon hours in each of the three tunnel-ventilated barns. In the naturally ventilated barns, the air temperature during these afternoon hours was usually 1 to 3°F higher, on average, than that outdoors. During July (data not shown), a smaller temperature difference was again evident for the tunnel-ventilated barns in NY and OHC, but no difference existed between the barns in OHW. Early in the study, the operator of Barn TV-OHW was not running the tunnel ventilation fans as much as recommended _ the temperature setting was too high _ which likely resulted in warmer indoor conditions during July than in August.