Friday, November 30, 2018

HEAT: You're getting warmer

During a discussion about the autumnal increase in electric bills we've all experienced, the Young Relative noted that he jacks up the thermostat in his room in hopes of warming it up as quickly as possible. I added that I do the same thing as soon as I get into my car.
The Y.R.'s father (and, I should add, the payer of the electric bill) sighed and started channeling his undergraduate engineering textbooks.
"The RATE of increase in temperature is a constant," he lectured us. "You can't speed it up!" I wouldn't have been surprised had he started scrawling equations on the napkin.
Dearest Partner, who works with thermostats daily and is all too familiar with this crank-it-up fallacy, said he thinks appliance manufacturers should add a screen saying, "Heating as quickly as possible," just to keep customers happy.

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