Sherliz Holmes

@JhoiraArtificer

she/her
seaslug.garden/

just a selkie in the sea

(I also go by Liz)

avatar by @PotechiPon on twitter

Sherliz Holmes @JhoiraArtificer8/18/2023, 1:43 AM

interior temperature experimentation

or, I love walls and doors

as you may know, the greater Seattle area has been experiencing significant and relatively unusual heat (≥90F/32C during the day) for the past several days. while we open all the windows at night to try to mitigate this, the temperature bottomed out at 68/20 for maybe two hours last night. not great!

today I decided to do an experiment. I know that closing off the hottest room in the house (south facing, large window, upper floor) helps, but other rooms get hot at various times. what if I closed all of them. every door in the house.

the main floor thermostat started the day at 76/24, approximately the same temperature as outside
it is currently (18:30 local/1:30 UST) 90/32 outside
main floor thermostat: 82/28, weather friend says 85/29
upper floor at top of stairs: 87/31
worst rooms upstairs: 92/33

segmentation works! I have noticed that when I take steps to keep the upper floor cooler, the entire house feels cooler. now I have proof!

additional "walls and doors" features¹:

you can heat only the rooms you're actually using in the winter (over a household baseline anyway)
if someone wants to watch TV or a movie or play video games, not everyone in the house needs to participate

and for a little bonus, the basement, which contains the one window in the entire house we can attach A/C to, thanks to a strategically placed coffee table behind the couch: 75/23

portable AC sitting on a coffee table with the hose connected to a tiny window

I get studio apartments, but I have beef with entire houses with open floor plans. why.

#temperature regulation #walls and doors #open floor plan beef

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in reply to @JhoiraArtificer's post:

evan @sirboxalot8/18/2023, 2:10 AM

yes this rules. to reduce cooling costs in the summer, i segmented an entire "non master bedroom and bathroom" part of the house that had no doorway by hanging up a thick comforter at the hallway entrance. It Works!

Sherliz Holmes @JhoiraArtificer8/18/2023, 2:33 AM

yeah!! at an old house my parents built a door and wall across the staircase so all the heat in the main floor didn't go up like a chimney. it works great!

Mike Horowitz @mikejwitz8/18/2023, 2:43 AM

It’s such a little thing but yeah, really amazing how effective it is at segmenting rooms and temperatures. In the last place we rented I installed a simple vinyl accordion-style door for the kitchen and it made a huge difference during the summer heat waves.

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