Roomate RANT!!

[Ritalin Kid]

[rant] For the past couple weeks me and one of my roomates have been having a heat war... there are three of us and we try to keep it around 70 which tends to be the trend around here.. our central heat and air has a heat pump but also has an conventional heat system that kicks in to put warmer air into the house but it sucks the electricity. Last month our bill was around $90 this month our electric bill was $200... the difference being that last month I made sure it stayed at 70 degrees this month he continued to play with it bumping it up to 75-72 causing the aux heat to kick in.. This morning after recieveing our new bill he again kicked the heat up to 72 (with out system a few degree can mean the difference between reg heat and aux heat) before I left I kicked it down to 70 as he proceeded to chew my head off for "freezing him out" he claimed that within 5 mins he could tell the difference in the temp.. in reality he just heard the heater turn off.. and this is from the one roomate who can't seem to ever pay his bills on time at all.. this really pisses me off because of him the rest of us have to pay a huge electric bill and not only that since the other 2 us are upstairs we burn up.. he just tells us to close our vents.. which in turn burns me up more.. but what can I do to resolve this problem???? I can't just stop paying the electric bill but I can't watch and argue over the thermostat 24/7... also moving out does no good cause that would just make things more expensive and my 2nd roomate doesn't want to say anything cause he wants to stay neutral cause he doesn't want to "take sides" and I'm not gonna make him.[/rant]


Anyone have any advice or know how to rig a thermostat.. Do something to make it say 72.. it's one of those digital ones?? It's not the actually heat that it's about I believe in his head he's got to have control over everything... I don't care if he thinks he in control as long as I know the electric bill isn't gonna be $200-$250 next month..

[korgul]

You could get one of those little boxes that you put overtop of the thermostat. It has a lock and key. Give one to the " good " roommate and you keep the other. If he complains about the box tell him the landlord put it on.

korgul

[MDdan]

Well, if it's your decision to make (IE, you have the right to lock him out of the thermostat) then I'd get one of those lock boxes you see in public places. Clear plastic with a lock to prevent access to the thermostat. Shouldn't be too hard to find one, or install.

Will he destroy it to get at the thermostat? If so, I can't help ya with that one.

One other option, figure out how to prevent it from going to Emergency heat. Probably a single wire kinda thing. That will save you lots I'll bet, and you wouldn't even have to tell him.

Pop the thermostat off and figure out which wire it is maybe? Humm...any HVAC guys around?

[Ritalin Kid]

That really wouldn't go over well at all.. seeing how the landlord is a good friend so that would get him drug into this...

I need a way to secretly keep the temp around the thermostat at 72... or if maybe there is an adjustment on the digital thermostat to make it read off 72 and actually be 70... I'm going for stealth.. make him think he's won..

[Tom Jones]

Move him upstairs, or maybe that is what he is wanting you to do.....If so, boot his complaining tail out....and get a decent roomie....Tell him since he uses all the juice he can pay the difference.... Tell him to get an electric blanket and a long extension cord..... Ok, I think I covered all the possibilities. Actually, 70 and below is more healthy..... Oh, one last idea....put his ass in the oven and bake him....That should be hot enough for him....

Maybe he'll have the bread to pay his bills then

[korgul]

Surreal if he does not have the dough to begin with how will he rise to paying his bill

[Tom Jones]

Hehe.....Got the solution for you...
Set the thermostat at 70, then remove the cover...and bend the arm to where it shows 78.......Hope you have a thermostat that is not digital readout.. If you do it a few degrees at a time....he will never notice..... If you really want to be cool...buy one of this cheap temp guages that stick on the wall with the mercury...tube..and slide the tube so it reads the same... This way he can not question anyone about the reading on the thermostat...

Tom

[OuTpaTienT]

Geeez. Put it at 71° and make an agreement between the two of you that you'll not touch the thermostat for one month. Then see if how it reflects on the bills.

As far as being able to tell the difference between 70 and 72...you better believe it. Different people just have different levels of sensitivity. I'd bet you can tell the difference between 70 & 68.

If it's a little too warm for you, you should close your vent. Believe me, you're better off having him use the main heater as opposed to one of those little "personal" heaters that usually rate 1500w. Those things cost a fortune.

Does he have a computer? Tell him to reverse the fans so the warm air is blowing out the front and over his hands.

Buy him some big fluffy slippers and some thermal underwear.

Or if it's feasible, seriously consider swapping upstairs/downstaris rooms with him...if you're too hot and he's too cold then that would be a good solution if the rooms are similar.

[fatal xception]

I belive his other point is why should they have to pay for increased utility bills if 1 person is driving them up and not paying for it anyway. I'd be pretty pi$$ed also.