That has nothing to do with the temperature of the air around you, it is all about the heat radiating from the fire that is being absorbed by your body. You could be perfectly warm, even uncomfortably hot, until someone steps in front of you, at which point you will feel instantly cold. Let's go back outside for a second - this time by a campfire on a chilly evening.
#HOME DESIGNER ARCHITECTURAL ADD SLAB WINDOWS#
Windows represent the coldest exterior surface of the inside of a home, that's why heat sources are usually placed below them to in effect 'wash' them with heat. That stops the convection engine and helps bring their surface temperature up closer to that of our bodies, and as a result, less heat is transferred between us and our environment, and so we feel more comfortable. How building design affects comfort:Īir temperature does affect human comfort it is part of your thermal experience, but its predominant role is to warm or cool the surfaces of your home. Other environmental factors beyond just the average air temperature and heat radiating to and from the surrounding surfaces of your home will further muddy the waters defining comfort this includes air speed (think indoor 'wind chill' factor), relative humidity in the enclosed space, stratification (the difference in temperature between your feet and your head) and air convection (air movement caused by temperature differences).Īll of that and even a few other factors affect personal comfort, including your metabolic rate and how much clothing you are wearing. If the temperatures of the surfaces in your home are warmer, you will feel more comfortable regardless of what your thermostat says. If you have cold walls and windows, heat radiating from your body will help warm them at the expense of your own personal comfort. The net loss you experience will vary depending on the thermal performance of the home. The average adult radiates about 150 W of energy, but when in a room at normal uniform temperature we get back about 50 W of energy, resulting in a net loss of about 100 W. The ASHRAE handbooks, medical journals and the journals on indoor environmental ergonomics are very clear on that, that roughly 60% of the transfer of heat between the human body and the environment at normal activity levels is actually radiant". Air temperature alone does not define human comfort in fact, it is remarkably inaccurate as a measure of comfort given the credit we give it.Īccording to Engineer Robert Bean of the educational resource website Healthy Heating, "The sensible heat transfer that you have between the body and space is predominantly a radiant transfer, it's not air-based. Conversely, if you give me a wind-sheltered spot in the sun on a 12☌ day in March, I'll be down to a T-shirt in no time to burn my pale Canadian arms.
The outdoor temperature may read as the standard room temperature of 20-21☌ outside, but if it's cloudy, windy and humid, I'll want a jacket. To illustrate a point, let's start outdoors. I may be comfortable sitting outside when it's 20☌, or I may be very uncomfortable, depending on a lot of other factors - am I in the sun or the shade? Is it windy or calm? What is the relative humidity level? Am I standing, or sitting on something warm, or perhaps something cold?
Have you ever noticed that at times you can feel cold in your home even though the air temperature is exactly where you like to keep it? That's because, contrary to what most of us think, air temperature is not the main factor that determines human comfort in a building.
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