a cultural question...

[ratcreature]

I've noticed several times references in fiction about people airing out their house once it got warmer that made it sound as if Americans don't open their windows in winter to let fresh air in. Like as if they don't air their house if it's freezing outside.

Is that true? Is it a central air conditioning thing where you don't really need windows to get fresh air, and shouldn't disrupt climate control or something like that? Because otherwise I can't imagine not to open my windows at least twice a day for a little while. Admittedly it's rarely extremely cold here, but this winter we had days when the daytime high was below -10°C and I still aired out my place briefly.

Here you are even required to do so in rental agreements because otherwise you get problems with moisture buildup and such.

Comments

[domarzione]

I have a Dalek-sized humidifier for my apartment because it gets so dry in the winters, but I keep the windows closed save for a crack in certain rooms because I don't control my heat -- the building does. And my building does not blast the heat like most NYC buildings do, so if I open the windows, it's gonna get really cold and I have no way to deal with that save by putting on more clothes.

So, yes, getting to open the windows is a definite sign that Spring Is Here.

[ratcreature]

Here the usual setup is that every room has a radiator with an individual thermostat you can adjust and these also each have an instrument measuring the heat, that then via some formula can determine how much energy you use, so utility pay is supposed to divided by consumption to encourage energy saving.

In reality that method mostly leads to enormous bureaucratic costs because the installation and reading of the meters and the calculation needs to be outsourced by landlords to specialized firms who charge quite a bit (also there are only like three of these with iirc two being the same company just under different brands after mergers, and they all seem to charge about the same horrendous prices and I remember reading some newspaper article about some corrupt price fixing cartel), and those fees in turn get added on to your utility bill. But I guess the actual energy use is down so it's a climate plus, even if it costs you more for less warmth.

Anyway. The buildings themselves also usually regulate the heat in the form of a heating curve of the central heat in that at night the overall heat is regulated downward and up during the day, so your individual thermostats work from a relative baseline.

But in all guides to energy efficient heating I have received here (and I've gotten quite a few over the decades, from landlords, from the company installing the energy monitoring, in the usual seasonal newspaper articles etc.), the emphasis was that leaving windows open a little constantly would loose a lot of heat but airing briefly for room climate and fresh air was encouraged. And that to save energy mostly you should regulate the average temperature down but not turn down the heat when you leave and then on again, because warming up a cold room again needs more energy than keeping it warm while you're gone. They also tend to recommend it much colder than I like especially in bedrooms, because apparently most people here like their bedroom cold (16°C) whereas I like to sleep warm at 18-20° no matter that everyone says that you sleep better in cooler rooms.