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Since condos typically don’t have a per-unit HVAC system, the heating is managed centrally for the entire building. In winter time, it’s always too hot (in ever

Since condos typically don’t have a per-unit HVAC system, the heating is managed centrally for the entire building. In winter time, it’s always too hot (in every building I have lived in), so we have to cool down our unit! Apparently, the central heating system takes ~24h to heat up (floor based, heated water pump), so they can’t adjust the temperature on an hourly/daily basis (it’s set and forget).

gwd 3y ago
Have you done the math that shows that the centralized "long time to heat-up" system, even assuming a certain amount of wasted heat, is actually less efficient than per-unit, fast-to-heat-up system? It's quite possible that 1. the loss from people opening their windows because it's too hot is still actually less than the loss of having a per-unit heating system. 2. the expense of adapting the system to allow per-unit controls is actually higher than the loss of people opening their windows because it's too hot. I mean, it's also possible that the decision to centralize it was based on false assumptions, and that it actually is less efficient. But never underestimate the power of efficiencies of scale.
kkfx 3y ago
Typically, at least in EU, heating systems are regulated per unit in condos, meaning you can choose how much water you allow to flow in the local dissipator/heat exchanger, so the fact there is a single source of heat does not means individuals have to heat too much or too little. The central heater have a job: keep hot water at a certain temperature, the distribution system have a job: keep hot water flowing at a certain rate, so you can get more or less water per unit issueless (at least in a certain range, projected up front where pumps are dimensioned), individual thermostat valves have a job decide how much water have to flown locally in an apartment or depending on the heating element per-room. The issue happen with badly designed systems. There was an era in the '60s where heating fuel (oil at that time) was so cheap that builders decide it was cheaper to heat much and open the windows as needed instead of design a proper system with margins. Back than there was not much climate analysis when you project a new building. Most condos was built just for speculation, with little attention to the tech. Most buyers do not care much even today.

gwd 3y ago

Have you done the math that shows that the centralized "long time to heat-up" system, even assuming a certain amount of wasted heat, is actually less efficient than per-unit, fast-to-heat-up system? It's quite possible that 1. the loss from people opening their windows because it's too hot is still actually less than the loss of having a per-unit heating system. 2. the expense of adapting the system to allow per-unit controls is actually higher than the loss of people opening their windows because it's too hot. I mean, it's also possible that the decision to centralize it was based on false assumptions, and that it actually is less efficient. But never underestimate the power of efficiencies of scale.

kkfx 3y ago

Typically, at least in EU, heating systems are regulated per unit in condos, meaning you can choose how much water you allow to flow in the local dissipator/heat exchanger, so the fact there is a single source of heat does not means individuals have to heat too much or too little. The central heater have a job: keep hot water at a certain temperature, the distribution system have a job: keep hot water flowing at a certain rate, so you can get more or less water per unit issueless (at least in a certain range, projected up front where pumps are dimensioned), individual thermostat valves have a job decide how much water have to flown locally in an apartment or depending on the heating element per-room. The issue happen with badly designed systems. There was an era in the '60s where heating fuel (oil at that time) was so cheap that builders decide it was cheaper to heat much and open the windows as needed instead of design a proper system with margins. Back than there was not much climate analysis when you project a new building. Most condos was built just for speculation, with little attention to the tech. Most buyers do not care much even today.