As the thermostat turns: tales of office intrigue from the front - Editor's Note

Engineered Systems, May, 2003

By Robert Beverly

You might recall that in last month's episode, the concept of the nonfunctioning "fake thermostat" raised its head. I asked readers to report any personal experiences with this phenomenon. Several of you did, and a sampling of tales is below. Just to be safe, I'll omit specific names as part of the HVAC Witness Protection Program.

PSY OPS: NOT JUST FOR THERMOSTATS ANYMORE

A longtime consulting engineer in Manhattan wrote that he has seen numerous fake thermostats over the years. He also recalled one case in the early 1970s where an air diffuser was installed in response to complaints about a lack of air circulation from a worker in a perimeter office. The diffuser was simply "blanked off with sheet metal" above the hung ceiling, hut sure enough, after the installation, "I was told by the complaining person that the air circulation became more than satisfactory -- in fact, perfect!"

PLACEBOS THAT PACIFY

Another reader had a friend who was a bank manager outside Baltimore, and three bank tellers simply could not arrive at an acceptable room temperature. "We installed a lock box over the real themostat and added a fake thermostat for each lady," he said, and the complaints stopped.

The next case arose shortly after occupancy in a new headquarters for a national electronics company where this reader had worked on the project as a field engineer. The situation: "We had a problem develop with the secretary of the senior vice president. Her office was outside her boss's office, and the thermostat controlling the VAV box was in his office. He (like myself) was a large man, and preferred the temperature at about 70[degrees]F instead of 72[degrees] to 73[degrees]. She was a middle-aged lady who was subject to rapid fluctuations in comfort."

After a string of callbacks and after the initial confusion of the foreman assigned the task, a fake thermostat was installed over the weekend. At the next meeting with the owner's representative, the rep confirmed that the secretary was completely happy. "The phantom placebo thermostat had done its job well!"

DIGITAL SENSORS, SAME PROBLEMS

The winner for most candor comes from an author whose e-mail starts simply "I've used fake thermostats for over 30 years and it has always helped." In the realm of the not-exactly-fake, he points out how newer sensors can make more room for trouble, telling of a building generating more than its share of complaints and coincidentally housing more than 200 sensors "that were holding temperature within a half-degree." The remedy? "I added $1.98 stick-on thermometers that made it hard to distinguish 72' from 74[degrees], and that eliminated 80% of the complaints."

What he learned: "I will never try to control space temperature this close again. As the temperature swings, sometime during the day everyone is comfortable, just not at the same time."

On the other side of personal experience, our participant said that after 20 years in the business, "I have yet to engineer, bid, or see specified the installation of such a device." However, DDC technology does allow for "behind-the-scenes technology, which many occupants don't know exists," including a "sensor with setpoint adjustment ... [but which] can be programmed to limit the high- and low-end temperature setpoint limits to values the owner is happy with."

This sounds like a modern and slightly less duplicitous version of the fake thermostat: you, the occupant, do in fact have some control, just not quite as much control as you might think.

COMFORTABLE CONTROL

That last reader closed with some useful perspective. "All people who complain at work should remember this when unhappy about the controls at work. What setpoint have you set for your thermostat at home? And do you have individual room control at home? From these questions, most realize that the conditions at work are not so bad."

True, and the role that human nature plays in these anecdotes is consistent and fascinating. Once the engineer has done all he can do to provide physical comfort, is a little subterfuge ethical if that's what it takes to make people truly comfortable?