I live in an off campus apartment with two ppl who are close friends. Roommate A wants the temp above 25 C in the apartment claiming her room is cold. Roommate B also complains of her room being cold. I on the other hand prefer the temp to be at room temp 21-23 C. My room gets hot at night. In an effort to be civil I bought a fan for my room (The ceiling fan makes me clog up at night), told maintenance about the problem, sleep in my skivvies,and ensured all the heat went to their rooms only! I suggested that they buy $10 heaters at the market place, but neither thinks they should have to do so (oh and they walk around the house will bare minimum clothing). We had a slighted heated discussion and a temp was agreed to (24 C), which I still think is unreasonable. After the agreement the temp was still being turned up to 25 C - the temp Roommate A really wanted. I took it as a sign of sheer rudeness. We had and agreement and it kept being broken! One night I got fed up (bc I woke up sweating) so I turned it down to 22 C. I got a nasty text from them saying that I was wrong for what I did, but neither wanted to acknowledge that the temp was being intentionally set above the agreement just to be rude. Neither believes they should compromise any further than being able to turn the temp up. They want the compromise to be only on my end. What can I do? My lease doesn’t end for a while and the hostility towards me is increasing.
25 C is really warm. Who pays for the heat?
I agree that 25 C is really warm.
I would recommend keeping your door closed and blocking the vents in your room to lower the temperature in your room only. If you have forced hot air heat, cover part of the vent (some have adjustable louver to close off the air flow)to reduce air flow. If you have baseboard heat, look at the top air opening to see if it has louvers to restrict the heat flow. If not, block the air opening on the bottom. Most heat vents/baseboards have a way to adjust the heat. Ask maintenance to show you if it is not clear.
Why fight the battle if you can do the above. Yes the common room will be hot but enduring that might be worth reducing the tension. If you are paying for the heat then that is a whole other story. In that case, I would ask the roommate to pay slightly more.
I have no idea what 25 C is. Sounds absolutely cold.
Who pays the heat (2x)?
Embarrassed to say that I had to google the fahrenheit equivalent.
77 degrees! That is really warm for overnight heat…in our house, we’re at about 65 at night (turn it warmer when we get up in the morning). You’re in the right. But I’m not sure what to recommend as next steps…
Do you have a window that opens?
Everyone has different temperature preferences. There is no right or wrong. 77 degrees is cold for me, but too hot for my daughter. It’s a tough situation that can ruin roommate situations. I had the same problem in college. Hang in there.
I lived in a townhouse with four other people at one point. It was FREEEZING. Like, I had to wear my North Face, mittens, and hat to bed, and I was still shivering. Total agony. Some extra-cold days I had to sleep at my friend’s because it was so unbearable. I lived with two engineering students who created some app that the thermostat was hooked up to, so even if I manually changed it, they could change it back from wherever they were, even if they were on campus! Unfortunately the end of this story is that it really never worked out. You’re not wrong at all, though. Agree with the others that part of this will depend on whether or not you are paying for the heat.
How about having it warmer during the day and cooler at night? Most people sleep better in a cooler (within reason) room, but need their living spaces somewhat warmer during the day.
Why don’t you swap rooms?
Another never ending story about college roommate disagreement.
It costs more to have high temperature in the room. But unfortunately, many young adults prefer comfortability over cost. Also temperature comfortability depends on the body of each person. When I ride with other people I usually feel hot because they don’t turn on the AC or roll down the windows. I usually turn on the AC when I drive even during the cold day. My body always feels hot (I used to feel cold when I was younger - not sure why). My niece complained that her roommate kept the air conditioner running too long during the day and eventually she had to find new roommates.
You are right but it’s not worth the fight because when you fight it will cost more.
We all split the cost.
I block the vents and keep the door closed. Somehow it still manages to get hot. Switching rooms wouldn’t be an issue if I didn’t have a heavy 5 piece furniture set that has to be disassembled and put back together.
I close the window if the wind is blowing too hard. I don’t want dust and dirt all over the place. It bothers my allergies.
if certain rooms get hotter than others, it seems the best issue is to go through the trouble of switching the room…awfully wasteful to open a window.
It seems if you agreed to 24, the other roommate is being a jerk to increase to 25
It’s funny that you are quoting things in dollars but temperatures in centigrade. Anyway, I get really ill when nighttime temperatures are about about 65 degrees (18C), and prefer it to be a bit colder.
Don’t worry about what is fair. Go buy the two heaters are your own expense and give them to your roommates. When you hand them over, just explain, “I’m serious, the heat is killing me. Please use these heaters at night and keep the apartment heat at 21. I am dying.” The fact that you were willing to buy the heaters at your own expense ought to make an impression, and getting a good night’s sleep is certainly worth $20 or $40 or whatever.
I’m sure you have blocked off all your vents, but do that, too. Open a window and put some type of towel over it to catch the dust if you have to.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar#Economies_that_use_a_dollar
At the very least, you should ask that your roommates pay a larger portion of the utility bill since they insist on keeping the apartment so warm. I believe the super rough estimate is that every degree (F) increases your heating bill by 3%. 1.8F is 1C so for ease, you could say each degree C is 5% (it’s more like 5.4%) more of your heating bill. If they want to keep it at 25 instead of 24 (there should be some compromise), you should get a 5% discount off your utilities bill each month that the rest of them have to account for. You could even theoretically say you want 21 while they want 25 so the compromise is really 23 and if they want it at 25 you should get 10% off. Since you already agreed to 24, probably should just go with that as the 0% off set point. Doesn’t solve your comfort problem but at least it’s 5% off your bill. Maybe having to pay extra will convince them to turn it down.
I also like the idea of buying them space heaters although your rental agreement might not allow them.
@iwannabe_Brown Your plan is just asking for conflict. These people don’t care about the cost; they want it hot. The trick is to find a way to get them to use a portable heater in their room and not crank up the thermostat.
Telling me that I am going to save $20 each month but that I’m going to be ill from excessive heat each night is not good news.
Definitely consider space heaters. Since you’re going to have a huge heating bill anyways, try opening the windows in your room and closing the door so some of the heat stays out. Earplugs will block out most of the noise it brings. I had friends that would open a window or crack it to cool the room off in the dorms since they liked it cold. Another temporary fix is to open the window and have the fan blow cold air in–unless you have mild winters this would be way too cold to do all night, but it helps cool the room down quickly.