Excellent_Affect4658 t1_j76jh97 wrote on February 4, 2023 at 1:37 PM

Dropping to 56 overnight is pretty extreme. What kind of a place is this, how is it heated, etc?

SquashDue502 OP t1_j76jlwq wrote on February 4, 2023 at 1:39 PM

It’s a house we’re renting and it has baseboard heating that’s as much as I could tell you lol

mc_lean10 t1_j76l73g wrote on February 4, 2023 at 1:53 PM

Same happened at my rental (very old duplex with baseboards) my upstairs stayed over 65, downstairs dropped down to 57 by morning. Just check for drafty windows/doors, we had to throw a towel down in front of one of the doors, we threw a sheet up to block off our stairs so that more heat stayed downstairs as opposed to up, try blocking off areas to try and help heat build up. Our downstairs went up to 62 (and climbing) within a couple minutes and the upstairs has plenty of heat. If that doesn’t work then I would maybe call the landlord and see if he can send somebody over to make sure your system is working properly

CosmicSurfFarmer t1_j76u5pc wrote on February 4, 2023 at 3:05 PM

It’s not extreme at all. It’s a function of the heat load of the home and the BTU per hour capacity of the heating system. The design day for the system is likely well over -13°, so the system struggles on these outlier days

Excellent_Affect4658 t1_j77v7bx wrote on February 4, 2023 at 7:17 PM

This is not normal. Don’t apologize for landlords. They are required to provide a system capable of maintaining 65 degrees. If the system can’t keep up and drops 10 degrees below that in a single day of cold weather (weather that we regularly have for a few days or a week most winters), then one or more of the following apply:

the rental unit has inadequate insulation and sealing
the heating system is undersized
the heating system needs service
OP has not been shown how to use the system correctly

CosmicSurfFarmer t1_j77xboq wrote on February 4, 2023 at 7:32 PM

Talk to any heating professional- that’s not how it works. If you always designed for the extreme outlying days, then you have a grossly oversized system for the remainder of the year and are wasting a ton on unnecessary equipment. The design day temperature for Rockingham county is 0° for example. That is the standard that a system is installed and sized for. When it’s colder than that, you’re going to need to take supplemental measures.

Excellent_Affect4658 t1_j77xvya wrote on February 4, 2023 at 7:36 PM

And the landlord is required to provide them! So again, either the apartment is inadequate to state standards, or OP has not been shown how to keep it heated. Either way, the answer does not have to be “just suck it up and have a 55 degree apartment.”