It’s a struggle for me to keep it at 74. Every time my back is turned, my wife cranks it up to 81.
Nope, it is functioning as it is sort of designed to do, sitting next to it, it is toasty warm. Move away from the perimeter of the room, it is cold. Short of bricking up all the windows, and building an airlock the place is as draft free as anybody would reasonably want. I would like to be able to sit in the middle of the room and be comfortable, with no hot spots or cold spots. With the wood stove we can manage this. [well, and also make a wicked good batch of chili on top as well.]
I have two couch throws and fleece bed slippers in my office. I use them all summer, with a long sleeved sweater.
[QUOTE=lance strongarm]
What if someone lowered the thermostat instead of opening the window?
[/QUOTE]
I have no idea what this “thermostat” is everyone keeps going on about. The “baseline” temperature at my workplace is set my maintenance, and I wouldn’t know where or how to mess with it even if I was allowed to. Temperature in individual rooms is regulated with ovens.
There is something called a “thermostat” on my home boiler, but it regulates the water temp, not house heat.
lightbulb This is that AC stuff americans keep going on about on House Hunters, is it? Weird. Um, if someone “lowered” it, I’d…no idea actually. What does that do?
[QUOTE=lance strongarm]
Too late. Put on a sweater.
[/QUOTE]
I do, all winter long. I honestly, swear to any available deity, don’t think my preference is unreasonably warm. I’m pretty firmly convinced the window-openers are either making it up, or have gone completely nuts.
This is the same for many American workplaces. But it varies, depending on the type or age of the building, the size of the office, and the wishes of management. In many offices, individuals have no control whatsoever over the temperature setting. In some places, there is a baseline setting, but some of the rooms have additional controls to make adjustments. In some places, there is a temperature control accessible to employees that controls the entire area.
Ovens?
Modern American houses usually have a furnace (to provide heat in the winter) and an air-conditioning unit (to make it cooler in the summer). In combination, the whole setup is called the “H.V.A.C.” (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning). The two are usually controlled with one temperature-setting controller called a “thermostat.”
You just select your temperature and (on the “automatic” setting) the little computer decides whether the furnace has to be activated to increase the temperature (in the cold season), or whether the air conditioner has to be activated to decrease the temperature (in the hot season).
How does it work where you live?
[QUOTE=Acsenray]
Ovens?
[/QUOTE]
Sorry, radiators. The kind Samuel L. ties a woman up to in Black Snake Moan.
[QUOTE=Ascenray]
How does it work where you live?
[/QUOTE]
You turn the heat on when you want it warmer, and off when you want it colder 
We don’t do “cooling”. The outside does it for us.
Ah, steam radiators. Those are still around in older buildings.
So, you can’t choose a temperature.
I have steam radiators; I love them. I have a central thermostat that runs the boiler furnace in the basement and I can adjust each radiator with little vents.
A lot of US houses don’t have “central air” (house wide air conditioning for cooling). People make do with fans, window units (smaller air conditioners typically for one room), and basic thermodynamics - opening the windows in the basement and attic to get cooler air to flow through the house, but the house has to be designed right for that.
Air conditioning doesn’t just cool the air; it also dehumidifies and filters out particles, like dust and pollen. It’s quite nice when people don’t crank it down to -11 and focus three vents on one person’s chair!
It’s a usual freezing-cold winter here, and a few idiots still open the bus windows even in the freezing weather! :mad:
[QUOTE=Acsenray]
So, you can’t choose a temperature.
[/QUOTE]
Not in most private homes, no. Although the settings on the radiators + whatever you have the boiler on is fairly consistent, so you can certainly set it to be whatever you want, with some fiddling.
In most larger workplaces it’s automated somehow, although I have no idea of the mechanics of it. There are still radiators in most rooms at my workplace, electric in the newer building, steam in the old one.
[QUOTE=EmilyG]
It’s a usual freezing-cold winter here, and a few idiots still open the bus windows even in the freezing weather!
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, those people should be skinned and their pelts used for warmth.
Suck it up. I sit under a blasting AC vent for 12 hours a day at work, hands continually numb, wearing at least 4 layers and fingerless gloves (have to be fingerless so I can operate a computer efficiently). If you ever want to complain about being cold at work because of window opener freaks or AC thermostat freaks, remember it could be a lot worse.
If it’s in the UK, we have hot water, not steam radiators. The temperature of the water can be set at the heater, and it’s also possible to control how much water goes into each radiator, and thermostats can be used to set when the water heating is on or off.
But no, in general you can’t set a single control to have the house stay at one temperature.
They may be hot water, come to think of it. Never put much thought to it either way.
Wait a minute - I’m female and I am the one looking longingly at the window, wondering how many people will fuss if I crack it even a little.
I’m usually too warm, and my SO is the one who gets chilled easily. Yes, I have noticed the trend seems to go the other way, but not in my house!
and a further point (as made upthread)-
You can put on layers- there’s a limit to how far I can strip down.
Yes, and since the OP said a house and not an office in his original Pit, I was wondering if he lived with an, uh, older woman. We get older, our thermostats go to shit. Right now my man is under blankets up to his nose, and I am way too hot in a tee shirt and jeans.
I was referring to the number of people going on about “small women” fiddling with the thermostat, not actual women in reality.
And no. I will wear suitable indoor wear, which is a pants and sweater combo. I will not look like the Michelin man indoors because other people are insane. I will not wear gloves or jackets or scarves indoors. I will wear normal indoor clothes because I am in fact normal (or close enough).
Look, I’ll repeat that I’m not demanding tropical temperatures, I’m talking about standard room temperature. For which I will wear pants and a sweater. If you are dying at room temperature, you’re the one with the problem. Sorry, that’s just the way it is.
It’s a decorative wall-hanging. It does nothing and is just pretty to look at.
I’m another lifelong window opener. I sleep with a window open all year round.
Plus as others have said it’s easier to put layers on to keep warm that to keep cool when it’s too hot.
Maybe, but my boss isn’t going to appreciate me showing up to a meeting in a wool cap, snow boots and a parka, and once I get
More than three layers on sleeves on my arms, it gets hard to use the mouse. There are limits to the “Oh, just bundle up” theory.
You might need some Getting Dressed lessons. That is beyond the scope of this board.