Monday, February 5

I said brr... it's cold in here

The heat in my house isn't working properly. The result is that when it gets really cold out, the house is only about 50 degrees Farenheit. But 50 is only a number. Let me offer some more graphic ways to understand what this means:

- When I grab silverware or dishes, it chills my hand.
- When I put food on my plate, it stays hot for about 2 minutes.
- With 3 layers on, I shiver and my feet actually hurt from the cold.
- To me, turning on the computer has now become a way to check email and heat the room.
- I am afraid to take a shower because I know it will be painful to get out.


Do something about this? We've tried. My housemates and I have called campus maintenance and had them come "fix" the heat about 7 times this winter. They tend to show up, wake everyone up, and leave abruptly without giving us a report.

Today I tested the temperature in my bedroom with my handy dandy thermometer, and saw that it was about 55. I closed my door and turned my hair dryer on, and about 40 minutes later the temperature was 65 degrees. I heard a knock on my door, so I turned off the hair dryer and said "Come in."

It was my roommate from across the hall, who recently watched An Inconvenient Truth. A few days ago, she presented me with a list of tips on how to curb global warming. She saw the hair dryer in my hand and frowned disapprovingly. "TAB, do you know how much energy you're wasting by heating the room with that thing?"

I glared at her, shocked and defensive. "Excuse me? Have you noticed how cold it is in our house?"

"Well yeah, but that takes up a lot of energy. That's not a good idea." She crossed her arms.

"I don't see what the problem is," I said, confused that she didn't understand. "If our heat was working properly, we'd be using more energy than I'm using by turning on my hair dryer."

She continued to disapprove, but I eventually shook my head at her long enough to convince her to leave. On my way out later on, I poked my head in the kitchen to see her standing next to the open oven, which she was using to heat the room.

I gasped (Jokingly. Nothing actually surprises me). "What happened to 'You're wasting energy?'"

"Whatever," she said in the voice of a 12-year-old.

... And now I know I can use my hair dryer whenever the hell I please.

12 comments:

caramaena said...

Heh, my four year old says whatever a lot lately.

I hope you get your heat fixed soon. If it were me, I'd have bought a small blow heater ages ago.

Anonymous said...

Brrr i feel cold just reading about it

Anonymous said...

I think it is against the law for landlords to let a house drop below a certain temperature...I'm not sure what temp that is but definitely look into it! Also, a girl in my building's heat was broken and same story, people came to check it out but never fixed it...until she refused to pay rent until it got fixed.
It's fixed.
good luck!!

Ripsy said...

Remember when we lived in Lynd and your heater made weird noises and then the black girls downstairs yelled at us for being loud?

Fuck them.

Oh and I keep my heat on 80. My girlfriend keeps her at 70. I hate her.

The Ambiguous Blob said...

I would demand to be put up in a hotel with heat until the problem was fixed. If it drops below 70 in my vicinity, I start freaking out just a little.

The Very Reverend Ace Clemmons, Jr. said...

im pretty sure the law in NYC is 58 degrees. If its a dorm and your not getting satifaction from the school- go straight to the city housing dept.

the very.

Rune said...

why did Ripsy have to emphasize that they were "black girls"

On a side note...

I lived in an apartment about 5 years ago, that was a converted house, and they never installed individual heating systems...so the first floor unit controlled all the apartments. It was a little old lady who was ALWAYS cold, so I had the opposite problem. For like 2 months straight, my apartment was never below 80 degrees. Finally, the landlord took some action and put a lock over the thermostat so he was only able to regulate it (because he was paying the heat). he kept it at 62 degrees. In like two days, my apartment went from the tropics, to a normal temperature. THe little old lady was pissed. Every time she would bring her man friend over for sex, she would make sure I heard everything. Old lady sex is not very fun to listen to....

Bridget M. Burns said...

Our apartment is always cold because we have this one huge heater just in the living room that never reaches the rest of the house. But we're trying to move downstairs where there are radiators. Individual radiators in each individual room! Ah, the luxury.

Sean said...

kick the freakin maintenance people in the shin. and then call the school newspaper for an expose.

The Accidental Bitch said...

caramaena - Wow... they grow up so fast.

pinkjellybaby - Either I'm a good writer, or my chills traveled all the way through your computer screen.

anon - Oh, it is. I totally pulled through.

ripsy - I don't remember about the black girls... but I do remember that our room was usually warm enough.

the ambiguous blob - I like it warm too.

the very - 68, actually. 55 at night.

rune - Because she's "joking" and is really "not" racist. She's "liberal". Oh, and I'll take a sauna over an ice rink for a bedroom any day.

dylan - I can't believe how common this problem is. How cruel the world is.

sean - I did nearly that. Thanks for the violent advice :)

Dropout! said...

HAH. Was that half-me? Because she was totally in on the original "turn on the oven and warm ourselves with the sweet sweet oven-heat" idea. She can't deny it, we have pictures!

Miss Devylish said...

You know what helps.. heating a huge pot of hot water and leaving it to boil.. When it was 19 here over Thanksgiving, heat on all day didn't help and one of our fans went out.. so that's what I did. Be careful if your oven is gas my dear.. hoping it's electric. :) And remind campus security or whomever that living w/out heat.. or minimal heat violates the law and legally they have to fix it w/in 24-48 hrs I believe. It's a utility you can't live w/out. Hope it gets better!