Success Stories > Thermostat Placement
Location, Location, Location–Thermostat Edition
Your room temperature varies based on what your thermostat is detecting, so it's important to know its location. Some common trends we have seen are that some thermostats aren't placed in the same rooms we're receiving feedback, or a thermostat is nowhere to be found. When you let us know what you see in your room in addition to your comfort vote on TherMOOstat, we can find and fix temperature issues together.
The Location of Your Thermostat Matters
You're smarter than a thermostat because a thermostat takes temperature readings of the surrounding area. Only you, the person in the room, know the context of the space, such as there's no thermostat in your room or in the afternoon the sun shines on the thermostat. Below are some stories about issues we've found through your TherMOOstat feedback.
In October of 2016, we received a comment from Room 3117 in the Math Sciences Building. We were able to determine that the occupant was able to control their temperature setting on the thermostat in the room; however, the occupant still thought the room was chronically cold.
Our team conducted a site visit to the office and discovered that the thermostat was hidden directly behind a computer monitor! As a result, it was causing a discrepancy in the actual temperature of the room.
The warm air from the monitor was tricking the thermostat into thinking the room was warmer than it actually was, so the thermostat was trying to cool the room constantly, resulting in discomfort on this TherMOOstat user's behalf.
The computer monitor affects the temperature reading.
The placement of this thermostat is not ideal.
Sometimes the fix can be complicated and needs a lot of investigating to figure out what's going on, other times it can be as simple as changing a monitor's location. Thanks to this occupant's feedback, we were able to quickly improve their comfort.
Your Vote Matters!
Use TherMOOstat to let us know what thermal complications you notice in your room and how they affect you. We can use your feedback in addition to your comfort votes find and fix temperature issues together.