Humans are amazing because they have the ability to adapt to almost any climate on Earth…so how come when it drops two degrees in my office, I freeze my butt off!!! I have a thermometer in here, and it’s 70 degrees. My hands are ice cold. However, I can be outside in 50 degree weather and my hands are just fine. This is nuts. Maybe it’s because I’m not moving, and this not circulating as much warm blood into my hands..?
I would guess that part of it’s because you’re not moving, but another part of it may be psychological…you EXPECT it to be, say, 72 and constant in there, so if it drops even a little, your brain tells you it’s much colder than it should be.
You could also be coming down with something. Is this always a problem, or is it fairly recent?
Redwolf
In this case, it’s because there’s a damn air vent right over my head. I think the entire floor is serviced by this one vent, judging by the immense volume of air shooting out of here. My ears pop every time I walk into this low-pressure front called my office.
But I’m not just talking about this one instance. It’s always true. In your home, you can tell if the air is a degree off of the norm, and yet you gleefully go out into 90 degree weather on a picnic.
Yep…that’s all in what you expect. In my home, I expect the temperature to be exactly the way my body wants it, so if it’s even a little bit off, I get uncomfortable and make adjustments. Outside, I’m used to realizing that I’m the one that has to adapt to the environment, so I’m less bothered by variations.
Redwolf
Tape printer paper over the vent. I had an office that was attempting to warm the entire building.
Warning: may upset those without vents!
Denny
There you go.
If you’re in an office that has been refurbished/remodeled for various tenants over the years, it’s quite likely that that HVAC system has been changed much to reflect the modified spaces. You end end up with one office that’s as cold as a meat locker, and another office area on the same floor that’s hotter’n Hades.
I worked in a large office in a very large building in Ft. Bragg, and we had a single vent that produced a blast of really cold air. We taped a piece of cardboard over the vent, and everyone else in the building got frozen. My team compromised by punching several small holes in the cardboard. (The thermostat was out in a hallway and seemed to have two settings–Too Cold and Off.)
Regarding expectations, when it’s 98 degrees C out, 74 can feel very chilly, but when it’s 50 outside, 74 seems stiflingly warm. During my last year of high school (in Houston), my mother liked to keep the air conditioner set on 75, so I often wore a jacket around the house. (Of course, being 6’3" and weighing 135 pounds, I needed all the heat I could get.)