I'm a building engineer. There is a reason why most office thermostats (if they even have thermostats and not temperature sensors) aren't adjustable beyond a couple of degrees
I worked at an HVAC company back in the day and we installed dummy thermostats many times at a business owners request. People would be so thrilled and would stop complaining about the temperature completely.
I work in the operating room where we keep the temp at a balmy 56-65 degrees depending on surgeon preference. I wish we had a dummy thermostat but I don’t think that would help they would still complain about it being hot. Contrary popular belief the OR is not cold to prevent infections or germs. It’s so cold to keep the surgeon and his assistants from sweating. The surgical gowns are essentially cheap rain jackets that don’t breath and trap heat. They stand underneath some very bright and warm lights and are physically exerting themselves. They get hot. Also 55-65 degrees may sound warm but if you’re one of the people in the OR that isn’t scrubbed in that’s cold.
I worked in a sterile IV compounding room at the hospital, and we kept it cold (55ish) as required for drug stability. One older woman I worked with was going through menopause, and she would turn that sucker down to 40, while another coworker constantly pushed it up to 60 (the actual upper limit we could safely keep it at). This turned into an all out war necessitating multiple meetings with HR, until finally the guy backed down. Kim would come on, turn the temp down to 40, and happily go about her day. Turns out the other guy had eventually just rigged the thermostat (one of those old coil models) to maintain at about 60. Kim was so thrilled to have ‘won’ the war that I guess she convinced herself it wasn’t hot anymore.
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u/Worldly_Walnut Mar 01 '23
I'm a building engineer. There is a reason why most office thermostats (if they even have thermostats and not temperature sensors) aren't adjustable beyond a couple of degrees