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I was wondering if anyone knows what the recommended room temperature in an air conditioned office is meant to be set at?
At the moment I'm slowly boiling away!
TIA
I recon between 18-21 celsius is a nice temp.
Server room - 17 (brrrr).
Server room - 17 (brrrr).
Actually retreated to our server room to cool down! Current temp reads 24 degrees.... Don't get me wrong, I love the heat (we get little enough of it here!), but too warm and I may nod off....
Hey - now I have an excuse for sleeping at my desk... ;)
I work in a room full of menopausal women.
You might want to wear battle armor too. The collective nature of many menopausal woman is a force feared by all sane people.
In Australia we'd be working in duffel coats and long johns! someone even said 18 deg.. geez, we keep our meat at that temperature! Office aircon is usually set for 23-24deg C over here.
I think you'll find that the optimum varies according to the usual ambient temperaure of the region. For example, I'd hazard a guess that the norms for Toronto are different from those in Miami.
Sharing a bit of useless information.... I work in office management so a lot of office related "stuff" crosses my desk. When it comes to air-conditioning complaints, it almost always comes from one of the ladies.
That's not being chauvinistic, just a comment that ladies seem to react far more quickly to changes in their temperature comfort zone. (Where is the smiley emoticon when you need one?)
At the lower end, apparently you should heat your houses and offices to at least 18 degC for health reasons, to prevent illnesses, decrease dampness and stop mould and mildew. An upper limit is more difficult to decide however because humidity starts to play a part too. And I think austtr is right about the regional variation for this, I feel hot just thinking about sitting in a 23 degC office.
That being said, 73-76 degrees Fahrenheit is perfect. That's 22.78 - 24.44 degrees Celsius to you metric-heads.
I would love to be in a nice 74 degree climate right now and am contemplating going to the beach for a late night swim ... but as I have been out to dinner with friends and have consumed a considerable amount of liquor ... I will likely just take a cold shower (which might be all of about 80 degrees) and try to go to bed ... again! :)
Note:Our water tends to be ambient temperature as it is contained in a cistern. For those who don't know what life is like in the Caribbean ... a cistern is a large concrete box, generally integrated/attached to one side of the building ... and it holds water. We have no fresh water (government supplied) systems where I live and rely on rain water alone to supply our fresh water requirements. That rain water is captured from the roof, through the eves trough and collected in the cistern.
Yes. I live in a backwards nation ... ok? So how many of you wish you were here 75% of the time? So na na na na boo boo ... I win! I may stink a lot of the time, but I get to go shell collecting whenever I want :)
I work in a room full of menopausal women.
Aw ... sweety! Being one of those "menopausal women" of which you speak, I can truly empathize with your plight!
Here's what you do:
Buy a $30.00 blender
Buy a $3.00 bag of ice once a day
Buy $10.00 worth of tropical drinks and keep them on hand at all times.
Buy a few little drink umbrellas and a couple of straw hats and keep them in your desk drawer.
Hire an electrician to mess with the thermostat so that 65 degrees F. reads as 72 degrees F. ...or whatever makes you comfortable.
When one of your coworkers has a hotflash, rush off to the kitchen, make a lovely tropical smoothie , slam an umbrella in it, grab the straw hat (put it on you) and set the drink down in front of her.
For only $5.00 US, she could feel as cool as you!
You will become the darling of the office and make money at the same time! OK ... so you will be ****inmg drinks, but who is going to argue with it?
Call me and I'll sell you the recipes! You'll be rich!;)
A cheap solution (without much style) is to buy a bunch of sandwhich bags and a bag of ice every day. Every time you see a coworker fanning her face or if you hear any eavy sighs ... grab a baggie, fill it with ice and place it on her carotid artery. Within 5 minutes, she will be her old self again! (Trust me ... it works!) ;)
Jeez what's with all the Celsius temperatures being quoted? Whatever happened to degrees Fahrenheit?
Around here it's nothing but degrees Kelvin!
Around here it's nothing but degrees Kelvin!
Cooler here today though. In our office it's dropped to about 700 Scoville.
For sitting work (1 met) and light clothing (0.6 clo), experiments have shown that 80% of people will feel comfortable in the range between 22 and 27 °C. The optimum for avoiding accidents was found around 23 °C. Work efficiency (both physical and mental) will fall at higher temperatures. Manual capability (fine motion cordination) will keep rising up to 27 °C.
Note that "operative room temperature" is not the same thing as "air temperature", which is the only thing most people measure. Thermal comfort levels are determined by several factors:
Actual air temperature. Conventional knowledge.
Vertical gradient of air temperature. If the hot air collects under the ceiling, then you'll have a heated cranium but cold feet, typically resulting in a headache. That's what those big ceiling fans are supposed to avoid (have it pull the air up, not push it down). The gradient shouldn't be larger than 2 °C per m, and the temperature at floor level shouldn't fall below 21 °C.
Air movement. This has several consequences. If the air moves too fast, then you'll feel draft, if it moves too slow, then you probably won't get enough fresh air. With a laminar air flow you'll remain comfortable at higher air movements than with a turbulent flow.
Temperature of surrounding surfaces. If you're sitting next to a hot (or cold) wall, then the radiative equilibrium of your body will be disturbed, which makes you feel uncomfortable often without understanding the reason. In general, the temperature of room surfaces shouldn't differ from air temperature by more than 3 °C.
Relative air humidity. At lower temperatures the relative humidity may be higher. Ideal is a value between 45 and 60%, because that's high enough to avoid dust in the air, and low enough to remain comfortable.
Ok, now everybody is *really* confused, eh? ;)
Jeez what's with all the Celsius temperatures being quoted? Whatever happened to degrees Fahrenheit?
All civilized countries have switched to SI units a long time ago... ;)
Around here it's nothing but degrees Kelvin!
There's no such thing as "degrees Kelvin". "Kelvin" is a unit all by itself, without the degrees (don't get confused by the fact that it has the same step width as "degrees Celsius").
