5 ms·
In continental Europe (Germany, specifically is where I have experience), most apartments are so well insulated that they don't even get significantly cold with
by wheels 5y ago
In continental Europe (Germany, specifically is where I have experience), most apartments are so well insulated that they don't even get significantly cold without the heat on. I often travel in winter, and have come back home, say, mid-February after a month away, and my apartments have never been lower than 15º C (about 60º F) inside. (Admittedly, it'd be colder if everyone in the building had their heat off.) That's very easy to deal with with no heating. Though, like most schmucks, I do use my heating to get it up to more normal inside temperatures.
- Ekaros 5y agoI wonder if this effect of effectively "stealing" the heat from neighbouring spaces. After all the walls are quite large radiation surfaces...
- jillesvangurp 5y agoYes, I have heating in every room in my apartment in Berlin. But I only use the one in my living room. I never heat my two bed rooms or the bathroom. The rest of the apartment is a bit cooler but stays warm thanks to the neighbors below me heating their apartment. I actually prefer sleeping in a cold bed room so I never use the heating in there. I just toss on an extra blanket when it gets really cold outside. I generally have the window open there throughout the year. Even when it gets well below freezing temperatures. Nothing worse than a stuffy warm room for sleeping for me. It's one of my annoyances with hotels actually. I hate it when I can't open the window. Generally the first thing I do is remove most of the blankets, turn of whatever heating is there, and if possible open the windows. For me the ultimate in stupidity is a hotel room with the AC on where people use blankets to stay warm where you can't even open the windows.
- 988747 5y ago>> stays warm thanks to the neighbors below me heating their apartment. So you're basically stealing the heat from your neighbors :) You can see how that strategy falls apart if everyone starts doing it?
- jillesvangurp 5y agoIt's not like I have a choice here. Besides, the building charges an aggregate heating cost per year that I can't really influence with my behavior other than not turning on the heat when I don't need it. With my downstairs neighbors, I end up having to open the window as well to get the temperature in my bedroom to reasonably low levels.
- 988747 5y agoMan, I have a similar problem whenever I visit my parents: my mother is after a heart attack, her blood flow is impaired so she's always cold, even when there's like 27 Celsius degrees in the room. The first thing I do when I the house is to shut down the heater in my bedroom. The whole house feels like a sauna.
- fulafel 5y agoIf everyone is content with a lower temperature, they still end up heating less, and energy is haved. (Also, they are probably transferring much more heat from their own single heated room than from neighbors through walls).
- 988747 5y agoBut that's not what's happening here, we're talking about maintaining pretty comfortable temperature at the expense of neighbors.
- wheels 5y agoWith a sufficiently insulated apartment, you actually stay at reasonable temperatures from other sources of heat: bodies, bathing, appliances, cooking, computers, etc. A normal apartment uses a couple kilowatts of power, which generates as much heat as a couple space heaters running all the time.
- 988747 5y agoOf course having more effective insulation is a good thing, but that's not the case we're talking about here: were talking about "staying at reasonable temperatures" thanks to your neighbors.