It’s 21 degrees in the room, so why do people feel cold

[Swanfairydust]

I don’t understand this.

In winter people put the heating up to 23+ degrees.

In summer they whinge because it’s that temp, and they want air con to reduce the temp.

Can anyone explain?

because they wear too thin clothes and no socks?
because it's drafty?
because they sit still too long?

Yes it's all very illogical. However, our house was freezing last night. I was so so cold and my hands were like icicles. Checked the thermostat and it said the heating was set to 20 degrees and the actual temp in the house was 22 degrees. I have no idea why I was so cold or why the house felt so cold to me but I sat huddled under a blanket all evening as a result. Maybe it's to do with how cold you've been all day- so almost like a cumulative affect? So I was cold all day, had been rained on a lot and the wind was icy. So all that coldness contributed to how chilly I felt in the evening. Or maybe I'm taking utter shit? Who knows.

I’ve often wondered this, I’m sitting in a big jumper when our thermostat says 20, but in spring/summer it’d be sleeveless/dress weather. I get very chilly in the shade in summer – is the air temp the same?! Seems like a question for science!

In summer, your house is likely not to be losing heat to things like external draughts, cold walls and cool air outside etc.

FWIW, I'd still wear jeans and a long sleeved top in 21 degrees in summer.

Draughts. And poor circulation, for me. Even wrapped up well, my extremities get cold. I have thick joggers and wool socks on, today, and my toes feel like blocks of ice.

It's 23 degrees by the thermostat, it could be anything in the rest of the room.

At least that was the issue in my old big open plan office. Thermostat directly under the heating vent, was set to 22 degrees. We brought a thermometer in to test and yep, 22 degrees. Sit by the windows however and you're a nice chilly 18 degrees.

Never bothered me, I'm a head out in a T-shirt in December kind of a person, but it drove some people in the office absolutely batty.

Also, the thermostat lies. My DP needed the heating up to 21 in our old house, (well, she'd prefer higher but that was the compromise). We've moved this year, and we've not had to put it up beyond 17. It is definately not only 17 degrees in this house at the moment.

This is an actual thing and one reason is the temperature of the surfaces. Our skin is sensitive to radiant heat, and can tell the difference 'at a distance' between a surface at 19 degrees (comfortable) and a cold surface like a window at, say, 12 degrees. And the latter will make us feel chilly no matter the air temperature. We are effectively radiating heat out into that cold surface, and it is giving nothing back.

This is why double (and especially triple!!) glazing, heavy curtains, and wall insulation can all make a room feel warmer even if the air temperature is identical.

This is the first year this has crossed my mind, but it's been annoying me for about 2 weeks now since I donned the Slippers.

Just because the thermostat says a certain temperature it doesn't mean the room IS that temperature.

In our old house the builder had put the fixed room stat (that controlled whether the heating for the entire house came on or off) on a wall right above the lamp. The heat from the light bulb made the thermostat register a higher temperature. So in order to get a room temp of between 18-20 degrees the thermostat had to be between 23-25 degrees.

In my new house I have a portable stat. I position it in the hall and it is set at 20 degrees. I then adjust the thermostatic radiator valves in each room and it keeps the house at the perfect temperature.

If I put the same stat in the dining room which is an internal room with no external wallsk that room retains the heat so the stat switched the heating off when it reaches 20 but the rest of the house is only about 16 degrees.

Draughts and surfaces like a pp said. This is one of the reasons I’ll be replacing our hard floors with carpets when the time comes. It’s noticeably more pleasant in rooms with carpets when it’s cold and I can’t say I notice much benefit from the hard floors when it’s hot.

I try to set my house to 20-21 but people leave interior doors open and it gets draughty

It depends on the house/home/place.

In one of my previous homes, 21 was frigging freezing.
It would have to around 25 to feel any benefit of the heating.

This house, at 20 it's perfectly comfortable.

@candycane222

This is an actual thing and one reason is the temperature of the surfaces. Our skin is sensitive to radiant heat, and can tell the difference 'at a distance' between a surface at 19 degrees (comfortable) and a cold surface like a window at, say, 12 degrees. And the latter will make us feel chilly no matter the air temperature. We are effectively radiating heat out into that cold surface, and it is giving nothing back.

This is why double (and especially triple!!) glazing, heavy curtains, and wall insulation can all make a room feel warmer even if the air temperature is identical.

I didn't know that. That's really interesting.

Some of it is draughts etc but I think there is a psychological component as well.

@candycane222

This is an actual thing and one reason is the temperature of the surfaces. Our skin is sensitive to radiant heat, and can tell the difference 'at a distance' between a surface at 19 degrees (comfortable) and a cold surface like a window at, say, 12 degrees. And the latter will make us feel chilly no matter the air temperature. We are effectively radiating heat out into that cold surface, and it is giving nothing back.

This is why double (and especially triple!!) glazing, heavy curtains, and wall insulation can all make a room feel warmer even if the air temperature is identical.

This.

Also, in the winter, there will be greater variation in the air temperature in the house because you are heating cold air, which will rise so the temperature at floor level will be colder than at ceiling height. Your body is sensing the temperature at your feet or, as candycane222, the temperature of the walls or windows or a draught.

If you look at the Met Office weather forecast, it gives the temperature and a "feels like" temperature. It's the same thing. A day when it is 20C outside will feel different depending on whether there is a breeze, cloud or sun. Think about how it feels when the sun goes behind a cloud on a sunny day. The air temperature doesn't suddenly drop but it feels a lot colder.

I’m happy wear a T shirt summer at 21c but it’s 21 in here now I have vest long top and hoodie on. Hands still feel slightly cold. Sure at some point near the ceiling the air is 21 but sitting on sofa near floor it’s much colder.

Would never just wear T shirt in winter if room said 21 would be freezing

Well my thermostat is set at 18, they invented these things called jumpers. Socks and slippers, I find they help a lot.

Outdoors, you're more likely to be active and generating muscle heat.
Indoors and it's easy for your core temperature to drop from being sedentary. If your body is cool, it's not radiating much heat to be insulated by layers of warm clothing. A jumper will stop you losing heat, but it won't warm up up if you're already cold.

Well I complain 21 degrees is too cold in the summer and feel much happier when it’s 23 degrees, indoors with no ventilation I think 21-23 is nice and cosy but my family feel too stuffy.
Unfortunately we live in a very old building that barely gets up to 15 degrees when the heating is on so I’m forever cold and miserable!

@gogohm

Well my thermostat is set at 18, they invented these things called jumpers. Socks and slippers, I find they help a lot.

I wear all of those things and more and can still not tolerate 18 degrees. I'm not sure that your superiority accounts for this difference.

I can be cold for no real reason, and I won't get warm unless I am practically sitting in the fire.

Today I've been in and out to the garden in a t shirt, boiling in the car with my coat on. Just out for a tiny stroll with the dog along the beach, just an unzipped down jacket over the t shirt,

I've peeled potatoes, put on a cardi, put my scarf back on and my feet are like blocks of ice. The heating AND the fire is on, I can smell the heat, but now I am cold.

I have a faulty personal thermostat I reckon!

21 in winter is not the same as 21 in summer.
Also, even if I manage to get the room I'm in up to 20 degrees in the winter, the hallway and bathroom are at about 15 because there's no heating there so every time I go to one of those rooms I get really cold and need to warm up again.

@LaurieSchafferIsAllBitterNow

I can be cold for no real reason, and I won't get warm unless I am practically sitting in the fire.

Today I've been in and out to the garden in a t shirt, boiling in the car with my coat on. Just out for a tiny stroll with the dog along the beach, just an unzipped down jacket over the t shirt,

I've peeled potatoes, put on a cardi, put my scarf back on and my feet are like blocks of ice. The heating AND the fire is on, I can smell the heat, but now I am cold.

I have a faulty personal thermostat I reckon!

Sounds like you're cold because you've spent half the day not dressed properly. And when you had your coat on in the car you may have sweated to make yourself too cold afterwards.

You don't move enough, so your circulation is bolloxed.

Sounds like you're cold because you've spent half the day not dressed properly.
And when you had your coat on in the car you may have sweated to make yourself too cold afterwards.

You think she should make herself hot and uncomfortable when she was walking on the beach?