# Can you control heat in a apartment as much as you want? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 18, 2013, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-control-heat-in-a-apartment-as-much-as-you-want/674161 "2013-11-18T01:53:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-control-heat-in-a-apartment-as-much-as-you-want/674161/21 "2013-11-18T16:55:00Z")
I own a condo and in theory all of our units are heated seperatly. Once I had moved out of my condo over the winter and left the heat off. I was reling on the heat from the appartment above and below me to keep everything from freezing. I got a call from the upstairs neighbor asking if I could turn the heat on and that he would pay for half of the cost since he couldn’t warm his apartment without extra heat coming from mine. I guess I’ll join the corus of “it depends”. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-control-heat-in-a-apartment-as-much-as-you-want/674161/22 "2013-11-18T19:20:26Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > My only experience with apartment living mirrors this. We lived on the second floor and rarely had to turn out heat on and yeah, often we had to open the slider and windows to cool it down. I can’t imagine how hot it must have been in the apartment below. My wife and I lived on the top (third) floor of an older apartment building when we were first married. The building had steam heat, and the cost of heating was included in our rent. To a certain extent, we could regulate the heat in our apartment, by opening or closing the valves for the radiators in the various rooms. But, on the whole, we didn’t have to – it was usually\* so warm in that apartment during the winter that we could easily go around in short-sleeved shirts in the apartment (likely due to both “heat rising” and the people in the apartments below us keeping their apartments very warm). We, too, often had to crack a window or two to keep our apartment from becoming too warm. - - The exception to this was when it’d first get cold in the fall. City regulations required the landlord to turn on the boiler when the temperature dropped below a certain point, but he always tried to push that date off as long as he could, and the first cold snap of the fall always yielded a very cold apartment. We’d resort to turning on the oven and letting it run for hours, with the oven door open a bit – a big no-no, but so is hypothermia. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-control-heat-in-a-apartment-as-much-as-you-want/674161/23 "2013-11-18T19:33:16Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Quite possibly, it wasn’t that hot since heat rises. We used to live in the first floor of a house converted into a 2-flat apartment, and there was only one furnace for both floors. It had huge ceilings, and heat rises, so we’d be chilly downstairs but the upstairs tenant (my husband’s sister) would be opening windows. This happened for a while before she even said anything. We asked if she could hold back on sending cold down to us through the shared vents, etc. and see if maybe she could close some vents instead. :smack: (Yes, that did help.) I can imagine how frustrating that would be. Ours were self-contained apartments with separate heating and air conditioning systems for each unit. We each paid our own utilities bills separate from rent. Their apartment may have been very cold, due to being on the ground floor, but there was nothing we could to prevent their heat from rising into out apartment and it was stifling at times. Opening the doors and windows was really our only hope for comfort. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-control-heat-in-a-apartment-as-much-as-you-want/674161/24 "2013-11-18T19:49:41Z")
> [@Silophant](#): > > Depends. Buildings with electric heat or Magic-Paks for each apartment? Yes. Buildings (like mine) with hot water heat? Not necessarily. Our thermostat goes up to 90°, sure, but the temperature doesn’t go above what the boiler will give it, which is usually 68°. Warmest we’ve been able to get it is 70°. > > Cite: My frozen toes. But are you using only the heater, or supplementing with other sources? In any case, the problem isn’t that it’s an apartment: it’s that the heating system is less powerful than you’d like - or the insulation blows. I keep my thermostat at 16ºC most of the time, raise it up to 22ºC when I’m hitting the shower. If my downstairs neighbor (aka “he who likes being in his underwear when there’s snow outside”) is home, his heating alone keeps my apartment at 21ºC. OTOH my mother’s house has central hot-water heating; they have just renovated the heater, and now when it’s on (twice a day, at noonish and dinner-timish) the different flats get between 24ºC (the lowest ones, closest to the heater) and 20ºC; when it’s not on, most rooms get closed off and the space heaters get switched on. ---
**Author:** ![tci707](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7cd45c/32.png) [@tci707](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tci707)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-control-heat-in-a-apartment-as-much-as-you-want/674161/25 "2013-11-18T21:55:00Z")
> [@Silophant](#): > > Depends. Buildings with electric heat or Magic-Paks for each apartment? Yes. Buildings (like mine) with hot water heat? Not necessarily. Our thermostat goes up to 90°, sure, but the temperature doesn’t go above what the boiler will give it, which is usually 68°. Warmest we’ve been able to get it is 70°. > > Cite: My frozen toes. That’s what I’m afraid of, I knew a friend who lived in apartment that had a thermostat that you could set to whatever you want but he was always complaining that it wasent warm enough and he had to run his oven alot to warm it up. How common is this? ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-control-heat-in-a-apartment-as-much-as-you-want/674161/26 "2013-11-18T22:03:22Z")
> [@tci707](#): > > That’s what I’m afraid of, I knew a friend who lived in apartment that had a thermostat that you could set to whatever you want but he was always complaining that it wasent warm enough and he had to run his oven alot to warm it up. How common is this? I don’t think there is any way to know. The whole heating setup is going to depend on a multitude of factors: Type of heating, who controls it, who pays for it, how old the building is, how well insulated it is, how cheap the landlord is, what floor you are on, etc. There may be some broad regional trends, but each building is going to be different. I think your best bet is to hang out in a public and ask residents about the building. I know you could achieve your goal (for free!) in my building, but the same may not be true in the building next door. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-control-heat-in-a-apartment-as-much-as-you-want/674161/27 "2013-11-18T22:05:09Z")
> [@Blackberry](#): > > I really don’t think there’s a max. You’re paying for electricity (or whatever), so they don’t care how much you use. I’d have to look at my lease for the maximum allowable temperature, but I know it’s in there. I know I’m required to keep the place at 45 degrees or above (presumably to keep pipes from freezing). > [@](#): > > You can also use a space heater if necessary. Space heaters are explicitly forbidden in my apartment complex (presumably due to fire risk). ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-control-heat-in-a-apartment-as-much-as-you-want/674161/28 "2013-11-18T22:32:56Z")
> [@tci707](#): > > I have never lived in a apartment before always a house but am thinking about downsized into a apartment. I have a thyroid problem that makes me always cold all the time and I live in a cold climate so sometimes I need to turn the heat up to 80 degrees. Can you do that in a apartment or do they have a hidden “max” temperature you can put it up to? It depends on the apartment. I’ve lived in buildings where the heat was set by the building superintendent, and others where you controlled your own heat. Since it’s an important issue to you I suggest you mention it when you are shopping for a unit to rent. Also, it’s important to know if the heat is included in the rent, or if you pay for your own heat. I’ve encountered both methods of doing things. ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-control-heat-in-a-apartment-as-much-as-you-want/674161/29 "2013-11-18T22:55:53Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > I’d have to look at my lease for the maximum allowable temperature, but I know it’s in there. I know I’m required to keep the place at 45 degrees or above (presumably to keep pipes from freezing). Mine would never go near 45 even if I never turned on the heat, because of the surrounding units. In fact, I almost never have to turn on the heat in my room no matter how cold it gets outside (and I have about the lightest bedding and pajamas I can find), and the bathroom attached to my room has a single switch that controls both the vent and the heat lamp (wtf kind of sense does that make?) so I took the light bulb out, and would never dream of going into the bathroom without turning on the vent. It’s hot and stuffy enough even with it on, no matter how cold it is outside. A heat lamp?? Are they trying to kill me? Unfortunately for me, I think because my room is next to a “telecom room”, whatever that means in an apartment complex, my bedroom and bathroom are always quite a bit warmer than the rest of the apartment. I hate it. And one other apartment I’ve lived in was deathly hot, always. My electric bill was so low there (we don’t have AC here, so it was low year-round, but miserable). If someone wants a warm apartment, they can be found! ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-control-heat-in-a-apartment-as-much-as-you-want/674161/30 "2013-11-18T23:20:53Z")
> [@Blackberry](#): > > …a “telecom room”, whatever that means in an apartment complex I’d guess that it’s a closet or small room with the junction boxes for the complex’s phone, cable TV, and / or internet lines. Might be independently heated, or it might just throw off heat on its own, if there’s computer equipment in there. ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-control-heat-in-a-apartment-as-much-as-you-want/674161/31 "2013-11-18T23:34:26Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I’d guess that it’s a closet or small room with the junction boxes for the complex’s phone, cable TV, and / or internet lines. Might be independently heated, or it might just throw off heat on its own, if there’s computer equipment in there. From the outside, it doesn’t look small though, it looks pretty big (it’s on a corner)! And I think there’s one on each floor. I haven’t checked every floor, but there is definitely more than one. The rooms bordering it are at \*least \*10 degrees hotter than the rest of my apartment, and the whole place is bordered on 5 sides (including above and below) by other units and an indoor hallway. What the heck is going on in that room? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-control-heat-in-a-apartment-as-much-as-you-want/674161/32 "2013-11-19T01:47:17Z")
Electrical resistance. No, really - electricity traveling through wires/cables/computers/whatever always meets some resistance (because we don’t have room temperature superconductors) and that generates heat. If you have a room full of electrical equipment you’ll have heat generated by that equipment. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-control-heat-in-a-apartment-as-much-as-you-want/674161/33 "2013-11-19T03:46:32Z")
> [@tci707](#): > > That’s what I’m afraid of, I knew a friend who lived in apartment that had a thermostat that you could set to whatever you want but he was always complaining that it wasent warm enough and he had to run his oven alot to warm it up. How common is this? What did your friend define as “warm enough”? I’m happy to wear a sweater in the house; my downstairs neighbor, well, like I said, you knock on his door in January with a couple feet of snow outside and he answers in his underwear. I found my Madrid studio a bitch because the heaters just weren’t set up properly and the insulation blew (in theory the heating system was the same as for my Glasgow studio, but the one in Glasgow worked much better despite being about 60 years older) - he wouldn’t have lasted five minutes there. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-control-heat-in-a-apartment-as-much-as-you-want/674161/34 "2013-11-19T04:50:10Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > I’d have to look at my lease for the maximum allowable temperature, but I know it’s in there. I know I’m required to keep the place at 45 degrees or above (presumably to keep pipes from freezing). I can’t imagine how badly insulated a place would have to be to be occupied _and_ have the indoor temps be less than 45 degrees. It was that warm in the morning several days into a winter power failure even when the fire in the fire place - the sole source of heat that week - had gone out hours before overnight. I was too young the last time I lived in an apartment to remember specifics about heating, but my dorm in college didn’t charge us separately for heat, and as a first floor resident I kept the radiator in my room shut off 90% of the time because so much heat rose up from the rooms below. And yes, at times I opened the window, even in January or February. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-control-heat-in-a-apartment-as-much-as-you-want/674161/35 "2013-11-19T19:23:13Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > If you see a thermostat on the wall, chances are good that you’ll get to control the temp. If you don’t and it turns out you get heat from steam pipes or some nonsense, then I guess you’ll know to keep looking. You’d think so, wouldn’t you? We rented an apartment in a 60 year old complex, heated with steam heat from a shared boiler. Thermostat was on the wall. A year later, the complex went condo, and we bought our unit. Part of the changeover was to have the thermostat replaced. We asked why they were replacing a fairly new thermostat, and we were told that the old one didn’t actually do anything. It was mostly window dressing, to make renters feel like they had some control. ---
**Author:** ![Marion\_Wormer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@Marion\_Wormer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marion_Wormer)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-control-heat-in-a-apartment-as-much-as-you-want/674161/36 "2013-11-19T19:54:10Z")
Sadly, you probably won’t be warm no matter what the temp is set to. Most apartments have crap insulation. If you don’t have good insulation the cold walls will pull the heat from your body and you’ll feel cold. It’s some physics thing. I’ve forgot what it’s called. ---
**Author:** ![James\_Toothpaste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e56c9b/32.png) [@James\_Toothpaste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Toothpaste)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-control-heat-in-a-apartment-as-much-as-you-want/674161/37 "2013-11-19T21:56:22Z")
Yes. ---
**Author:** ![ethelbert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/958977/32.png) [@ethelbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ethelbert)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-control-heat-in-a-apartment-as-much-as-you-want/674161/38 "2013-11-19T22:32:23Z")
> [@Blackberry](#): > > Where do you live? I’ve never heard of this being the case (although I wouldn’t be too surprised to find it in a very old building). But I was surprised that my current building has a shared water heater with hot water included in the rent because that’s rare here (I love it though…never runs out), and a friend from the midwest said that’s common there. Now I live in NJ, but my apartment experience comes from NYC. It was always my assumption that rental units were built for ease of maintenance. Better to maintain a single boiler than a furnace for every unit. Another piece of advice for the OP is to get a unit facing south. Much warmer. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-control-heat-in-a-apartment-as-much-as-you-want/674161/39 "2013-11-20T05:32:50Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > . I got a call from the upstairs neighbor asking if I could turn the heat on and that he would pay for half of the cost since he couldn’t warm his apartment without extra heat coming from mine. > > I guess I’ll join the corus of “it depends”. ha, why is he paying for only half the cost ? Does he expect you to be paid by your other neighbors too ? but yeah, if your apartment is cold then your ceiling is making his floor cold… sucking heat out…(and then to your walls and to the outside…) If your apartment is warmed, he doesn’t loose heat to your apartment. no flow through the floor. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2013, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-control-heat-in-a-apartment-as-much-as-you-want/674161/40 "2013-11-20T06:52:09Z")
I live in a New York City apartment and we have steam heat. It’s on when the boiler is on, and off when it’s off. It all depends on the temperatures outside. I have zero control over it (other than being able to just turn it off in my bedroom when it gets too hot.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-control-heat-in-a-apartment-as-much-as-you-want/674161.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-control-heat-in-a-apartment-as-much-as-you-want/674161.md?page=3)