Evaluate your heating . . .

[roddy]

Well, those of us in the north of China will have had our centrally-planned heating on for a couple of weeks now. So lets see how we're all coping . . .

New apartment for me this winter, so I was slightly worried the heating might not be up to scratch, especially as I've got high ceilings and a large window in the lounge. However it's been very good so far. The main bedroom is so warm as to be almost stuffy sometimes, and lounge / kitchen area is generally cosy enough for short sleeves, and the (wooden) floor is warm enough to walk on barefoot. It can feel a little bit cold when it's windy, but I suspect that's more because of the noise - being on the top floor really seems to crank up the volume.

Left a couple of windows open while I was out today, and it's still comfortably warm now - can't really complain with that.

[liuzhou]

Heating? Heating? What's that?

[roddy]

It's something you need when you live in a cold place. Everyone knows that the south (which has four seasons, all of them spring) does not need heating. Now back to your veranda with you . . .

[Rincewind]

I think it's a bit early to say just now as it isn't yet really really cold. Sure it's snowed most days for the last ten days, but it'll get colder yet. That said, my current house is better than any of the last two, but not perfect. The two bedrooms are fine, however the utility, bathroom and kitchen areas are cool and would be chilly if spending any great time in there.

[shibole]

My brother used to live in an apartment in Shenyang that had centrally-controlled heat. If it was unseasonably cold for a period then they just wouldn't turn it on and he was screwed.

[cdn_in_bj]

The place I just moved out of had awesome central heating. In fact, the first night after it kicked in I had trouble sleeping because it was too warm. Of course, you could control the individual radiators in the apartment. Some parts of the floor were warm too, presumably from the hot water pipes for the central heating.

The place I just moved into has individual gas furnace for heating (radiators) and hot water. Since I am now paying for my heating, I turn it to the very lowest setting when I head out for the day, and set it one notch up when I get home at night. With these settings, it's nowhere near as warm as the old apartment, however it's also no colder than what I'm used to back home. I'm actually sleeping more soundly now. I actually like it this way because there is less waste. Also, you can turn on your heating whenever you want - you're not constrained by the government schedule for central heating.

I should also add that in the new place, the A/C units also have heating function so if it gets really cold I can use these for a quick blast of warm air. Whereas in the old place, the A/C units were A/C only (my old landlords were very cheap).

One strange thing I've noticed is that the new place seems to be drier than the old place. I'm not sure why this could be - I don't think it's due to the differences in heating systems, but who knows.

[gougou]

Sadly, I have central heating as well. The living room is way too warm (the other day I forgot to close the window when leaving in the morning - when I came back in the evening it was still warm enough to walk around in short sleeves), while the window front in my bedroom gets freezing cold after dusk. Luckily, I switch a lot between these two places (piano at the window, laptop in the living room), so on average I'm quite comfortable.

[cdn_in_bj]

gougou - sorry, off topic... but, you have a piano?? Is it yours or did it come with your place?

[gougou]

gougou - sorry, off topic... but, you have a piano?? Is it yours or did it come with your place?

It's mine (but just a digital - else it wouldn't be able to cope with the temperature changes, I guess).

PS: For questions like this, you might want to consider a PM in the future. The only way I had to keep it on topic was to mention temperature changes

[cdn_in_bj]

Got it...

That was quite the temperature drop yesterday. They say there's going to be another big drop tonight.

[coolnicholas]

heating??haha,i still in short sleeves outside,i'm in nanning,a bit hot

[imron]

I have central heating, which unfortunately has been set way too low so inside it's still pretty cold (yes, I've bled the air from the radiators, that's not the problem). I sure hope they crank it up as things start getting colder.

[gougou]

I have central heating as well. The living room is way too warm

We finally had somebody from property management come by and to meddle with the valves on the radiators. He was meant to turn them down, but apparently he only knew open or close, so of two big ones and three small ones we have, only two small ones were left running.

Anyway, haven't frozen a single day after that (that was like a month or two ago). Goes to show how much energy is blasted out needlessly...

[Quest]

They need to install central heating in the south at some point...

[Rincewind]

Well I saw a man selling hammocks today, so I guess that winters over now. Now I can give a fair evaluation of how my heating did.

I think things went OK actually. Every room was acceptable except the kitchen. The kitchen got so cold that everything froze solid. And I mean everything. Even the soy sauce and vinegar froze. My cooking old turned into something resembling butter. However, up in the north east it was a rather mild winter this year. We hardly had any snow all year. Which reminds me of something. See that southern boy up above making fun of us...

[mr.stinky]

just paid my electric bill for the past two months. with my little 'lectric heater running

full blast for almost a week, the bill came to 133 kuai.

and yes, we did have winter. why just last week, we had about 2cm of snow.

gawd, i hate living in the arctic!

[Shadowdh]

Right up till January my heating didnt work at all, I didnt even realise as I dont use it alot and my side of the dorm is the warm side. But when the snow and ice came I decided to try it out... it didnt work so the chap came up straight away and fixed it in a few minutes and then nice and toasty till I didnt need it any more a week or so ago... now its back in the low 20s during the day and you can feel summer roaring in... I am in Wuhan by the way...