Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 11:33 am Post subject: Re: Why is 72 degrees considered comfortable room temperatur
BurnCalories wrote:
While internal body temperature is 98.6 degerees+/-, the temperature of the skin is usually around 72-76 degrees. That is why a temperature around that range is usually comfortable. In the winter you would normally be wearing more clothes, so a lower temp would feel better.
I heard something to that affect only a little different. 72 is the "average" differential between our body temp and the clothes we're wearing.
I grew up in Hawaii and was cold below 75. Now that I've been in the NW for 10 yrs, I think anything over 60 is hot since I try not to heat my house at all. Life tends to get a bit fluffy at times and we sometimes forget to test our innate survival instincts. I'm guessing my house in the 40's would seem hot to an eskimo. _________________ "I invoke law 7 of the laws of 8..."
Joined: Jun 28, 2005 Posts: 23 Location: Tampa, FL
Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 9:30 pm Post subject: Re: Why is 72 degrees considered comfortable room temperatur
I find 72 to be bone chilling cold. I work in an office where it is set to 72, and thus I wear long underwear year round, plus a sweater in the winter. At home, comfortable is 80 degrees. As I'm in Florida, at home in the winter with the central heat off, it rarely gets below 75, so I just sit in front of a little cube heater. My thyroid has been checked a few times and is normal and I am not over or underweight. I've been like this since I was a kid. I consider myself to be normal and everyone else weird..
Joined: Sep 16, 2004 Posts: 4279 Location: Southwest WI
Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 1:02 pm Post subject: Re: Why is 72 degrees considered comfortable room temperatur
Brandon... I think your climatized. It was 59F when i woke up in the house this morning. Doesn't even faze me now. It was 83F a week or so ago and i was sweating my ballz off. _________________ "Oil is going up because we use too much oil, and the capacity to replace reserves is dwindling"
-President Bush 11/07/07
Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 5:40 pm Post subject: Re: Why is 72 degrees considered comfortable room temperatur
NeoPeasant wrote:
... I might be wrong but I think energy consumption goes up exponentially as the temperature difference increases.
According the the principles of heat transfrer, you are incorrect. The heat transfer is linear with the difference in temperature between indoors and outdoors. One reason it may not seem that way is that your home internal temeprature in winter is also supported by indirect heating - cooking, lighting, even some body heat. Usually, you don't have to inject heat from a furnace until you get below 60 F for a sustained period. But, thereafter it is linear. If you keep your interior at 68F you'll use roughly twice as much heating fuel at 0F as you will at 34F.
An analogy for this heat transfer principle is an electric circuit following Ohm's Law we all lerned in high school. The voltage corresponds to the temperature difference and the insualation constant (R value) corresponds to the electric resistance.
Joined: Jul 29, 2005 Posts: 252 Location: Show-Me State
Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 1:53 pm Post subject: Re: Why is 72 degrees considered comfortable room temperatur
Good day from Pheba, from the farm:
Our home is 7 years old. We did not put in air conditioning when we built our home.
We heat with wood fueled from an outside furnace that heats hot water. The hot water runs through baseboard heaters in the house.
Very warm, very cozy. That being said I have just two words for you:
Hot flash!
I can't stand the heat above 65 during the winter, and during the summer we just do the best we can with fans, etc. The house usually stays under 85 degrees except for the hottest summer days. We get by. There is just one problem with not having air conditioning:
Hot flash!
Did I mention that my biggest problem with temperature control is
Hot flash!
Pheba.
Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 8:07 pm Post subject: Re: Why is 72 degrees considered comfortable room temperatur
I keep my heat set at ~ 68 in the winter. I might try 66 next winter.
In the summer it can get hot and humid. I do have central ac, but set it at ~78 when I need it. When it's 90 outside, 78 seems nice indeed.
I try to use celing fans in the summer and plan to be better about dropping the shades over the south facing windows in the afternoon.
I do have a small screened in porch and I want to build a simple sleeping platform for it. Lots of times it's cooler outside than inside once my home has caught the heat of the day.
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