A mechanical engineer must recommend an A/C system to a commercial building owner. The owner uses and MARR of 6%, but is not sure how long he will own the building. A conventional split system has a design life of 10 years, a cost of $52,000, and annual operating costs of $15,000. A chilled water system has an initial cost of $75,000 and annual operating costs of $14,000. Assuming each unit has no salvage value and will be identically replaced for the life of the building, determine how long the chilled water system needs to last for it to be the best choice (i. e. determine the break even useful life for the chilled water system). Express your answer in years to the nearest whole year.

1. alwaysrain irrigation, inc. would like to determine capacity requirements for the next four years. currently, two production lines are in place for making bronze and plastic sprinklers. three types of sprinklers are available in both bronze and plastic: 90-degree nozzle sprinklers, 180-degree nozzle sprinklers, and 360-degree nozzle sprinklers. management has forecast demand for the next four years as follows: both production lines can produce all the different types of nozzles. the bronze machines needed for the bronze sprinklers require two operators and can produce up to 12,000 sprinklers. the plastic injection molding machine needed for the plastic sprinklers requires four operators and can produce up to 200,000 sprinklers. three bronze machines and only one injection molding machine are available. what are the capacity requirements for the next four years? (assume that there is no learning.)