How do I keep my room cool when my housemate wants the heating on?

[zenpoopypants]

i have a hive syndrome that makes me flare when im in a heated environment, in summer i hive loads, and keep my room cool with a fan. but in winter my flatmate wants the heating on as she is cold, but i need my room to remain cooler because i will flare in hives. shes saying that even if i close my door and open my window ill still be making the house cold? i feel like this is so untrue because im blocking the air flow and am not allowing a lot of the colder air to actually leave my bedroom. can someone please confrim or deny haha thanks love you

 

[Halc]

even if i close my door and open my window ill still be making the house cold

This is true only to a small extent. The walls between rooms are not insulated like outside walls are, so the cool will bleed through.

If it's a long term arrangement, one solution is to put in a heat pump (air conditioner) between your room with the hot end exhausting to the part to be kept warm. This cools the room and heats the other side at once.
Problem with that is that an airco dehumidifies the air on the cools side and often lets the condensate drip out the back. This will have to be collected to avoid puddles.

They do sell 'portable' air conditioners that don't require creating a half meter square hole in a wall somewhere, but it still needs ducting somewhere, perhaps into the intake of the forced air system if there is one.

 

[vela]

Your flatmate has a point. The effect of you having a cool room may be more noticeable in adjacent rooms than you might expect even if you minimize air flow.

The easiest solution might simply be for your flatmate to get a space heater to keep her room warm.

 

[erobz]

The easiest solution might simply be for your flatmate to get a space heater to keep her room warm.

Also, you ( the OP) should buy it for them after you propose the solution. Your electric bill is going up too.

 

[Lnewqban]

Welcome, @zenpoopypants !

Could you describe the layout of the flat and the way in which the two bedrooms are heated when the heating is on?

 

[russ_watters]

And how much warmer/cooler are we talking about? If you don't have actual thermometers get them.

 

[pinball1970]

i have a hive syndrome that makes me flare when im in a heated environment, in summer i hive loads, and keep my room cool with a fan. but in winter my flatmate wants the heating on as she is cold, but i need my room to remain cooler because i will flare in hives. shes saying that even if i close my door and open my window ill still be making the house cold? i feel like this is so untrue because im blocking the air flow and am not allowing a lot of the colder air to actually leave my bedroom. can someone please confrim or deny haha thanks love you

I can relate to your pain as I have had this situation as a student, at home and in work.

You are UK? It is not even cold for this time of year! it is about 11-16C which is mild for November.

As @russ_watters suggested.

Get some thermometers see where you are.

A reasonable temperature is about 20C for a living area, lower for a bed room because you have the bed for insulation.

See where you are with the measurements and if she is still cold and wants the heating on and you do not, then you should factor that in on the way you pay your bill.

You are not only paying for heat you do not want or need, you are paying for heat that will make you ill and give you hives.

Fan heater - Make sure she gets an economic one.

https://www.dreamlanduk.co.uk/produ...FYnXImKcdRtO__CAOdl03JZBu8f43AdhPVLK5c2UnfYXF

Even if it is economic these should not be on all the time, a quick 30-60 blast to boost the ambient temperature.

68p per hour with 3 hours at night and one in the morning if it goes on at every opportunity is £84 per month.

 

[sophiecentaur]

in summer i hive loads, and keep my room cool with a fan.

A fan doesn't actually remove heat so you could examine what's actually happening. The details of your situation could be very relevant to your choice of solution. What's the temperature of your room when the fan is sufficient for you? At what room temperature do you cease needing a fan? What actual temperature does your housemate 'need'? What house temperature would be acceptable for you in cold weather - i.e. are there times when you feel the need for heating?
We may be only talking in terms of a very few degrees between the wanted room temperatures so any AC would not be running often. It could be interesting to find out how much power would be needed to elevate the housemate's room to a satisfactory temperature above yours. You can buy 'plug thermostats' and, with a simple (mains based) timer could be plugged in in parallel with an electric heater. Its displayed time would increment only whilst the heater is on so could calculate how much Energy (kWh) is needed during the day or evening to maintain the wanted temperature difference.

I frequently include the folloing in my PF posts "I feel and experiment coming on.". Seriously, some actual figures would help you greatly with this problem - heat is money and money is heat. (To mis-quote Flanders and Swan from way back)

It just struck me that a Peltier system could possibly do the job. A quick search suggests that units with a couple of hundred Watts could be feasible, depending on what the above experiment reveals.

 

[bobob]

You both share a living space. Oprn your windows and if that is too cold for your roommate, tell your roommate to buy a space heater. Since you will both be splitting the electric bill. it os not like the burden is all on your roommate. This is a simple low tech solution.

 

[pinball1970]

You both share a living space. Oprn your windows and if that is too cold for your roommate, tell your roommate to buy a space heater. Since you will both be splitting the electric bill. it os not like the burden is all on your roommate. This is a simple low tech solution.

The issue is the room mate is complaining that open windows are making her space cold.
My point is that Zen (who was on the site for 19 minutes btw) should not pay half the bill as the temperature increase will make him uncomfortable.
A Fan heater has been mentioned.

 

[bobob]

The issue is the room mate is complaining that open windows are making her space cold.
My point is that Zen (who was on the site for 19 minutes btw) should not pay half the bill as the temperature increase will make him uncomfortable.
A Fan heater has been mentioned.

Hence the roomate could easily use a space heater in the other room. Nickle and diming over the small difference in electricity is silly unless you think having a second electrical drop is a good idea so each has a separate meter. Would you expect to have someone pay extra for using an electric blanket? Would you use a timer on an electric stove to keep track of who used the stove more? Seriously, the electricity difference is not really significant.

A simple calculation ) US dollars and typical rates for a 200 Watt heater (running continuously for 30 days) is 1 kW-hour every 5 hours it is on, so that is 144 kW-hours in 30 days. At $0.12/kW-hour that is about $17.00 and that assumes it runs continuously. That's the equivalent of 2 100W lightbulbs.

If they cannot reach a satisfactory comprimise, they should find new roommates.

 

[sophiecentaur]

If they cannot reach a satisfactory comprimise, they should find new roommates.

A very PF answer, if I may say so. Personalities and relationships are at least as important as electricity bills. We can see that the OP is after an amicable solution and not the nuclear one.

I have to ask whether the housemate wears a T shirt and shorts in the dead of winter. I have a relative who is always cold but she makes an effort to wear warm clothing and there's no friction.

 

[pinball1970]

I have to ask whether the housemate wears a T shirt and shorts in the dead of winter. I have a relative who is always cold but she makes an effort to wear warm clothing and there's no friction

My Ex did her BA in York and visiting her in winter was a trek. Freezing weather and lots of snow.
It was a shared house and the heating was so inefficient and costly that they decided to only put the heating on after a certain time in the evening to save money.
Impressive ladies, I got there and they all had winter warmers and wooly hats on in the house!
It felt colder in that house than trekking through the snow to get there.
They may have actually took turns using the fan heater.

 

[russ_watters]

Hence the roomate could easily use a space heater in the other room. Nickle and diming over the small difference in electricity is silly....Seriously, the electricity difference is not really significant.

A simple calculation ) US dollars and typical rates for a 200 Watt heater (running continuously for 30 days) is 1 kW-hour every 5 hours it is on, so that is 144 kW-hours in 30 days. At $0.12/kW-hour that is about $17.00 and that assumes it runs continuously. That's the equivalent of 2 100W lightbulbs.

If they cannot reach a satisfactory comprimise, they should find new roommates.

I've never seen a 200W space heater and there wouldnt be much point. I have a personal/under-desk heater that is 300W - it only works because the heat is trapped under my desk at work. It would do basically nothing to heat a room.

A typical space heater (in the US) is two-level, 750/1500W because that's the max you can pull from a standard socket. I suspect space heaters for countries with higher voltages are even stronger. The cost can be significant if used a lot.

 

[Tom.G]

Just to give a baseline for heat loss thru a single-glazed window:
(sorry about the American units, 1BTU=3.41W, 10.8 sq.ft=1 sqMeter)

1² foot of a glass window leaks 1BTU per Hr. for each degree Farenheit temperature difference across it.
1BTU/Hr/Sq.Ft./°F - - (Google to the rescue: 1BTU/Hr/SqFt/°F = 5.7W/Hr/SqM/°C)

That is for still air. Worst case Rule-of-tThumb is double that for continuous strong wind on the outside.

 

[sophiecentaur]

I've never seen a 200W space heater and there wouldnt be much point.

A thermostat can cause any power consumption you want, up to the basic heater power.

That is for still air. Worst case Rule-of-tThumb is double that for continuous strong wind on the outside.

It's only by using some very complicated calculations that you could get a useful idea about the experiences in both rooms. In even the simplest model you would have to consider the heat transfer from the warmer room to the cooler room. Then you need to know the difference in lost heat from each room.

The layout of the existing system needs to be modelled; how much adjustment for individual rooms is possible? If it's a wet system then the situation would be different from a hot air system. What's the coldest it gets outside and what temperature difference is needed for the two rooms?

My questions have already been asked but I can't find answers here. A couple of cheap room thermometers would give a useful description of the actual problem.