Why do people crank up the AC in offices when it is hot outside?

[MagpiePi]

I'm in the office today in jeans and a sweatshirt with my sleeves pulled down over my hands because I'm bloody freezing and the AC is blowing out cold air down the back of my neck.

I know it shouldn't be, but it is.

It is acknowledged that the AC in our office is crap - too many sensors that are all fighting against each other, particularly when individuals go and change the settings for the unit that is sitting over their desk.

I have to keep going to the toilet and use the hand dryer to warm my hands up.

I sat with a hot bottle on my lap today. I was worried people would think it was OTT but my colleague borrowed it whilst I was in a meeting. It is ridiculous!

I once worked in an open-plan office, and the aircon unit was on the wall immediately behind my desk and blew stone cold air all over me. I was always getting up and adjusting the bloody thing, only for another woman to loudly moan about being too hot, and she kept turning it right back down again when I wasn't looking. She complained to the boss about me, and in the end he came and told me to leave it alone. I suggested he sit at my desk for 15 minutes to see how he liked sitting in a freezing draught. As it happened, he tried it and didn't like it either, so I won that one.

You dress for the office you’re in not the weather outside

But environmentally speaking (and from an economic perspective) it's utterly unhinged for organisations to overcool the buildings to the point their staff are shivering in cardigans

We once had a colleague who used to sit there in a thick jumper or cardigan and then insist that we opened all the windows when it was freezing outside rather than just wearing fewer/thinner layers. The rest of us ended up wearing multiple jumpera or our coats. I bought a mini desk heater and someone else always had a hot water bottle. So annoying.

16 is far too low and just wasting the air con. If it makes you feel better, I used to work in Greggs and the bitch of a manager wouldn't have the aircon below 21 on a hot day ..

it shouldn’t be set as low as that , it depends on what the outside temperature is but I think setting AC at 22c in hot weather is low enough .
I would never have my heating set that high in winter though ! 18c for heating here

Its madness. It needs to be just a few degrees cooler in than out.

We lived in the tropics for 15 years. We would set the AC to cool to 26c - sounds mad but when its was 33-35c outside it really worked well. Agree the mistaken belief that colder = quicker is at play.

Now this is an issue I would love to have and glady take a warm top to put on! Working in sauna classrooms I really would be so happy to have 😊
I stop off at local supermarkets on the way home to cool down, it's bliss.

If it's too cold then surely a few of you speak up?

24 to 25 deg would be far too warm for me. Id be more wanting 16 degrees. I absolutely hate the heat.
I moan constantly through the summer but love autumn winter time.

Most offices have hot and cold pockets particularly in meeting rooms and against windows. It’s a balancing act to make sure that Finance aren’t freezing to death in their internal row of desks whilst the Excom aren’t roasting against their south facing window. If the floor is under or over occupied, or laid out differently to how the building was designed, then the air con usually isn’t perfect for all.

Some workplaces also have air con temperatures written into union agreements.

Being the building manager can be a thankless task!

We have aircon wars at work. A few people want it on freezing but most of us are wanting 20/21°. The loudest are the ones who are too hot and they refuse to leave it alone and let their body adjust to the inside temperature. I wore my fleece all day yesterday because I was cold.

My mum does this in the car. Drives me insane.

Our garden room (used daily) is set at 18 degrees all year round and feels lovely to walk into whether it's boiling or freezing outside.

I'm with you OP. I've been at a meeting all day and the a/c was cranked up - a lovely warm day outside, early to mid twenties, so hardly hot. Inside was so cold that I (and others) put extra layers on. When did people become so incapable of dealing with slightly warm temperatures? Plus it's a complete waste of electricity and a horrible dry chill - not a natural one.

Mine at home is on 16 we're all in shorts and t shirts. Dcs are in just boxers, 16 is perfect for me.

Because people don’t understand thermostatic control. They don’t understand that if it’s set to 21, the temperature will be about 21, whether it’s 12 degrees outside or 32. They think “it’s very hot so we need the air con to do a lot of cooling”, not realising that the thermostat handles that.
DH, an otherwise very intelligent man, is like this with central heating. He turns it off when it’s “warm enough” and on again when it “isn’t warm enough”. He seems to think that if you leave it on all evening the house gets hotter and hotter. He won’t accept that it cycles on and off to keep the temperature roughly constant.

My house aircon is set to 16 it’s bliss! I would die in an office building if people wanted it warmer.

Because it's hot?

DEAD

No it's not - 21 degrees outside is not hot.

Same reason people whack the heating on in winter...

I don't think I've experienced British air conditioning but the heating is pretty wild. From the moment I get off the plane at Heathrow, I long to strip down to beachwear whenever I'm in a public building. Some moderation would go a long way.

33 today here