Stress+Cold=Irritable Jayn

The BBQ Pit
1

Living in a dorm wasn’t bad. Except for the heating. Sure I got fed everyday, but my room was always cold. We didn’t have individual thermostats, instead several rooms would be hooked on one 'stat. And the heat didn’t distribute evenly either. The heat went from one end to the other, so the room at one end was always sweltering, or the room on the other was always chilly. Needless to say, I was the room on the other end. Heat rises my ass, the basement was always the warmest.

But this isn’t about that.

This year I’m in an apartment. So I figured I’d be warmer, since I’d have control over my own heat. I also figured the ceiling would be better insulated so I wouldn’t loose as much heat through the roof.

I didn’t count on crappy heating, roommates and a cold November.

Problem 1: The heater isn’t that great. It doesn’t really warm the place up that much, and the other bedroom (IOW, the one I’m not using) always seems to be the warmest. My room and the living room are always a little on the chilly side. I’m wearing a sweater right now and I’m still cold.

Problem 2: Roommates. And they don’t seem to like being warm as much as I do. They almost always turn the heat off at night (because their room is too warm–bastards), and they keep going on about getting ‘fresh air’. I don’t know what is so great about this substance that they need it so much. I do know that they keep opening the damn patio door and letting the cold in! It is annoying as hell to go to sleep in a nice warm apartment, with the heat cranked and the door closed, to wake up in a chilly bedroom, the heat is off and the door is cracked again.

Problem 3: The fucking weather. September and October were hot. November broke that trend. It’s been freezing cold. So when the door is open now, I’m not getting the warm breeze I was in October (which I still didn’t enjoy, but it wasn’t as bad). Instead, I’m getting freezing cold air. This morning, not only was the door open, it was SNOWING. And to makes matters worse, I’m going to have to go out in that weather tomorrow because I can’t get it through my thick skull that I have to start my term papers earlier. Bloody half hour walk to school…

I’m asking Mom for a space heater for Christmas.

2

Wanna trade roommates? I could write nearly the same OP, but in reverse.

I live with a couple of roommates who, in August and September, wanted to crank up the AC if the temperatures rose above 65. Now, if the mercury even thinks about dipping below 50 they want to set the thermostat to 80. GRRRR!!!

I go to sleep at a nice comfortable 60 (hehe I’m the last one to bed most nights, so I get to set it) and wake up a few hours later, sweating because they’ve cranked the heat.

3

Do you have central heating? Ask your roommates if they’d close their vents at night so only you get the heat. Sounds like your heating system is screwed up, but I assume you already knew that. Why not call maintenance and have them take a look at it.

Also getting a personal heater sounds like a good idea. If you just need to heat your bedroom I’d assume a 5000 BTU heater will do it. If money is an issue (I assume so since you have roommates and are in college) you can get an electric heater on ebay. Most only cost about $10-15 for a 10,000 BTU model with another $10-15 for shipping.

4

They don’t even cost that much. I got a space heater for $10 at Wal-Mart, no shipping needed. It lives under my desk at work, keeping my cube nice and toasty.

5

In addition to the excellent suggestions about space heaters, you could check into gettng a heating mattress pad and electric blanket.

mMMMMMMMMMMm, warm on the bottom, warm on top. Of course I always turn the bottom off after I get in, and just use the blanket on about 3 or 4.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t help with the cold nose and cheeks outside of the blankets.

My old roommate did the same thing, I always just FROOOOOOZE to death. Sheesh, do these people not understand the comcept of "happy medium’?
If the electric bill goes up, and it’s split evenly amongst you and the roomies, perhaps that could open the lines of communication to Compromise.

Good luck with the roomies.

6

What would be your ideal temperature at night, and what would be their’s?

If you’re setting the thermastat at say, 85, and they have it at 55, I can see why you would get annoyed with one another.

7

Heh…me and my hubby play Thermostat War all year round. I’m always freezing and I loathe wearing clothes, if I have to wear more than a t-shirt (plus shorts if we have the kids that night), I’m cranky.

He, is always sweltering, and tends to wear long pants or sweatpants plus a t-shirt.

I like it tropical, he likes it arctic. I’m always up later than him, so I just wait till he goes to bed, turn it up till I’m ready for bed, then turn it back down before he gets up. He also knows to turn it back up when he leaves for work in the morning, because I won’t get out of bed if my room’s freezing when I get up.

I always said, when I was born, I was actually supposed to be an independantly wealthy island girl, there must have been some filing snafu in the paperwork upstairs, and I was instead born in freezing-cold Chicago to middle-class parents. All I know is, when I get back up there, I’m askin to speak to the manager about it. :wink:

8

We have central heating, but not the kind where you can set it individually for each room. There’s one thermostat for the apartment, and we don’t have vents. It’s pretty much the same as last year, except I don’t have to bug the girl three doors down if I’m cold.

My ideal temperature would probably be about 22-25 degrees C. I’m the type who wears t-shirts all year round, and I don’t like wearing anything extra while I’m in my own room. It doesn’t help that I’m tiny, so I don’t have much for internal heating, while my roommates are each close to twice my size. Well, maybe not that big, but neither of them is nearly as thin as I am. They know that I’m cold, but comfortable for us seems to be quite far apart. Geesh, one of them is wearing a t-shirt and shorts today.

CanvasShoes, our heating is included in the rent, so the electric bill isn’t going up anytime soon.

Geesh, I cranked the heat when I got up at 7:30 (one roommate turned it back down when he got up, but that was only an hour ago), I’ve been wearing a hoodie all day, and I only found myself decently warm after lunch. I’m starting to think that all the heat gets used up by the time it gets here–I’m on the top floor. The weather has been even colder today, so bad that I didn’t even go out like I planned.

9

Well, here’s (imNSho) most of your problem.

In my experience in b6th working with men (office thermostat wars can be bloody and evil :D), and living with them, I’ve found very few that have similar needs regarding heat to mine, or those of most women.

Can you find some tiny women who also like a cozy warm house to share with instead?

Bummer of a situation, I know how miserable it can be to be too cold.

10

Yeah, I kind of figured that. Right now my compromise is sweaters, but it’s so cold it takes a while for me to warm up even then (as I lamented yesterday). Also, there probably isn’t enough heat to keep the entire building warm when everyone has it cranked, which is likely right now. The heater isn’t putting off much heat.

I’ll keep that in mind next time I’m looking.