Room Temperature – Variations and Perceptions

Recently I’ve been writing software for our new wireless temperature logger. I have been keeping an eye on the results all the time. And I am starting to notice that room temperature is a really odd concept.

I tend to sit at my computer and that’s not too active. Consequently I tend to be cold. I like the room warm.

But then I will occasionally walk to the primary school to drop off or pick up the kids. Suddenly my office is too warm.

If I am seeing clients I usually wear long sleeves (and even stoop to a tie) and it is amazing how warm a business shirt actually is. But normally I like the freedom of polo shirts. Another reason for liking a warm room.

So that’s just me. I have about a 6° variation in my preferred temperature depending upon a number of factors.  And it’s just me in my office.

Now let’s take it to the open plan office and have dozens of people. To make it worse, some will be directly below the air-conditioning and others will be in front of the windows with sun pouring in. And to top it all off, the temperature sensor is probably in the warmest or coldest part of the office.

Sorry, I’m not offering any recommendations here, or advice. I’m just observing that it beats me how anyone can come up with an ideal room temperature.

But for all of you that are suffering, we can offer a temperature logger. Drop it on your desk and monitor it for a day or a week and hand the results over to your boss / building manager / air-conditioning technician and show them how hot / cold your desk is.

If you are lucky, it will be above or below the recommended “room temperature” and you have a chance of it being fixed. If you are really lucky it will be way outside and they will need to fix the issue.