5 ms·

I heat my home at 17.5c and it's quite comfortable, even for programming, if you have good clothes.

by enqk 5y ago

lucb1e 5y ago
Indeed, clothing is key here. And you need to start off warm: most people probably know the situation of warm socks and shoes not helping for already-cold feet. - Before having to pay my own energy bill and, honestly, actually being aware at all that this is a choice, I would sit in a t-shirt and just heat up my bedroom to (presumably, I didn't measure back then) 23°C. - With a cardigan* over the t-shirt, 21°C is just fine as well. - Add one thin layer of long underpants and put up the hood of your cardigan and 19°C is fine as well. - Second cardigan (I have a big comfy one that nicely fits over others) makes 17°C be on the low side but still warm enough. - To go 16°C or lower, I need to add clothing that starts to impair mobility, like a jacket/coat meant for outside. Arms are fine; but fingers, legs, and feet get cold within two hours. This is a bit too extreme for me. To-dos / failed things: - I need to look into thicker pants meant to keep heat in rather than just look stylish (jeans) or act as underwear. - For hands, I've tried fingerless gloves for typing reasons but I couldn't get used to it (it kept impairing my typing) and I ditched that idea again. - A radiant heat source like infrared lamp is also a thing I'm considering, but I'd have to position it somehow to heat my hands and the one my girlfriend got has a very bright red color (and I'd want to check what the effect of that level/strength IR is on my eyes). - A heated mouse helps (over longer periods of time it's noticeable, even at just 2.5W USB) but only for one hand, so it's not really a solution. Heated keyboard seems harder to make and has a lot of surface where heat gets lost. - Intermittent movement, like 5 minutes of treadmill every hour is something I'm considering. Might also help towards exercise in general, since my current exercise scheme is nonexistent, but I wonder if that would add up to be enough or if it needs to be 30 minutes of continuous movement before it's in the realm of reasonably enough to stay healthy. * Not a native speaker: I had not heard the word cardigan before. As wikipedia says on the sweater page: nomenclature can be quite confusing. What I mean is something thicker than a blouse but thinner than an outdoors jacket, with sleeves (long enough to cover your wrists), a zipper that can be closed, and often but not necessarily a hood. Hope I got the right word.
- genewitch 5y ago
  Any incandescent bulb aimed at your head will help you feel warmer, even a 60-75W. I tested this with a 75W halogen to make sure it wasn't necessary to use higher wattage. Also in lieu of heated keyboard and mouse, a laptop that is doing something energy intensive will put out 100-200W; some through the keyboard, but also to the nearby areas of the desk. I know it's not ideal for how a lot of people work, but i've gotten used to it. I also use a trackball instead of a mouse so i can just put the trackball near the laptop exhaust and keep it warm too.

I heat my home at 17.5c and it's quite comfortable, even for programming, if you have good clothes.

by enqk 5y ago

I heat my home at 17.5c and it's quite comfortable, even for programming, if you have good clothes.

Indeed, clothing is key here. And you need to start off warm: most people probably know the situation of warm socks and shoes not helping for already-cold feet. - Before having to pay my own energy bill and, honestly, actually being aware at all that this is a choice, I would sit in a t-shirt and just heat up my bedroom to (presumably, I didn't measure back then) 23°C. - With a cardigan* over the t-shirt, 21°C is just fine as well. - Add one thin layer of long underpants and put up the hood of your cardigan and 19°C is fine as well. - Second cardigan (I have a big comfy one that nicely fits over others) makes 17°C be on the low side but still warm enough. - To go 16°C or lower, I need to add clothing that starts to impair mobility, like a jacket/coat meant for outside. Arms are fine; but fingers, legs, and feet get cold within two hours. This is a bit too extreme for me. To-dos / failed things: - I need to look into thicker pants meant to keep heat in rather than just look stylish (jeans) or act as underwear. - For hands, I've tried fingerless gloves for typing reasons but I couldn't get used to it (it kept impairing my typing) and I ditched that idea again. - A radiant heat source like infrared lamp is also a thing I'm considering, but I'd have to position it somehow to heat my hands and the one my girlfriend got has a very bright red color (and I'd want to check what the effect of that level/strength IR is on my eyes). - A heated mouse helps (over longer periods of time it's noticeable, even at just 2.5W USB) but only for one hand, so it's not really a solution. Heated keyboard seems harder to make and has a lot of surface where heat gets lost. - Intermittent movement, like 5 minutes of treadmill every hour is something I'm considering. Might also help towards exercise in general, since my current exercise scheme is nonexistent, but I wonder if that would add up to be enough or if it needs to be 30 minutes of continuous movement before it's in the realm of reasonably enough to stay healthy. * Not a native speaker: I had not heard the word cardigan before. As wikipedia says on the sweater page: nomenclature can be quite confusing. What I mean is something thicker than a blouse but thinner than an outdoors jacket, with sleeves (long enough to cover your wrists), a zipper that can be closed, and often but not necessarily a hood. Hope I got the right word.

genewitch 5y ago
Any incandescent bulb aimed at your head will help you feel warmer, even a 60-75W. I tested this with a 75W halogen to make sure it wasn't necessary to use higher wattage. Also in lieu of heated keyboard and mouse, a laptop that is doing something energy intensive will put out 100-200W; some through the keyboard, but also to the nearby areas of the desk. I know it's not ideal for how a lot of people work, but i've gotten used to it. I also use a trackball instead of a mouse so i can just put the trackball near the laptop exhaust and keep it warm too.