Hacker News Reader

Comment by chrisseaton | Hacker News Reader

Why does this need to be centralised like this? Why not a normal consumer thermostat or manual control in each building?

View on HN

HVAC is much cheaper centralized. Things like off peak in floor heating are just the start of optimizations that can be done. Heck, even having one building on something else leads to pain.

But if it's on something else presumably it's because the people working in that building have decided that's the temperature they need to be comfortable. Should trust people in the locations to be sensible.

Not only that but you can still program todays thermostats with the optimizations/rules that you would in the central system anyway. Program it once, set it and forget it, and of course, give maintenance staff manual access as well.

You overestimate the average ability of the office worker to know how the system works. Getting the temperature comfortable for a group of people is sometimes problematic and allowing one person to make others uncomfortable is not a happy thing. Plus, the central controls tends to keeps things even and extends the life of equipment. Cost is an issue and people changing temperature everywhere sends costs up.

If you don't trust people to even run a thermostat then perhaps you shouldn't hire them to work for you!

Oh dear Lord. Thermostats in big buildings with complicated airflows with big open spaces are hard. People don't get how long it takes to heat or cool air. This is not your home system. Its basically saying I can drive a SMART car with an automatic transmission so I should be able to drive an 18 wheeler hauling a airfoil for a wind turbine.

I trust individuals have the ability mash buttons or turn knobs on a thermostat to suit their preferences. I don't trust that they have the ability or interest to understand how that changes the overall efficiency of the HVAC system or how it impacts coworkers. I definitely don't think it's even appropriate for them to have to have those considerations in mind: unless they're on the facilities team it's likely their value is in doing other kinds of work.

Any office I've worked in with at least three people will inevitably end up with the heat running at 75 degrees over Christmas break for two weeks while nobody's there.

One cold winter Monday morning in 8th grade, my first-period class had to meet in the hallway outside the classroom.

The reason? It was about 90°F (32°C) in the classroom.

On the previous Friday, one of the teachers turned the thermostat dial up as far as it would go. Presumably they intended to turn it down later but forgot.

Institutions like to exercise strict central control over setpoints to manage energy costs. Remote access also saves a lot of time and driving for the handful of maintenance staff who manage dozens of sites.

It probably made sense back then, but you’re right this does not need to be centralized anymore.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com