Apartment's temperature
Especially during autumn, it might feel a bit cold in the apartments and on the other hand during summertime apartments might feel hot. Sometimes maintenance needs to visit apartment for example to vent the radiators but usually tenant’s own actions are enough to solve the problem. On this page you will find tips on how you can influence to the temperature of the apartment, how the temperature of the apartment is measured, how the radiators work and what is the appropriate temperature in the apartment.
A suitable indoor air temperature is also tied to your own activity; you sleep best in 18 degrees, when you are cooking, 20 degrees is sufficient, but when lounging on the couch, you may need up to 23 degrees to feel warm enough.
The healthy housing guide defines the following temperatures as a guideline:
- Your health is at risk if room temperature drops below 18 degrees.
- A good level is 21 degrees.
- Room temperature should not be over 26 degrees, unless the rise in temperature is caused by outdoor heat. During the heating period, room temperature should not be more than 23–24 degrees.
Please note that these guidelines are for the actual living areas of the apartment; window surfaces, walls, floors and ceilings may be cooler than these reference values. The living area is defined as the part of the room that ranges from the floor to the height of 1.8 metres and is at a distance of 0.6 metres from any walls or other solid constructions. You can find more detailed instructions for measuring the temperature here.
Hoas' target temperature for the apartments is not random; it is based on general recommendations on healthy indoor air temperature. According to the healthy housing guide published by Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (in Finnish), indoor air that is too warm can increase tiredness, lower one's ability to concentrate, cause respiratory symptoms and a feeling of dryness. It can also accelerate the release of impurities in the form of gases. 20–22 degrees is also the room temperature recommended by the indoor air association.
It must also be noted that the cost of heating a property is significant. As a rule of thumb concerning energy use, every extra degree of room temperature raises the cost of heating by about 5 percent. In terms of a single apartment, heating can account for up to half of total energy consumption, so this is something to consider.
In all Hoas properties, the actual heating period begins when the daily average outdoor temperature drops to 15–17 degrees. Room temperature can often feel cool even if it is within the guidelines. This is common particularly at the beginning of the heating period, when the seasonal relative air humidity is high. In the autumn it takes a while before all structures warm up and relative humidity is reduced.
Hoas properties are heated by district heating and the heating is automatically regulated by thermostats according to the outside temperature. Larger drops in outdoor temperature can make it feel cold inside the apartments before the indoor temperature stabilizes to match the change in outdoor temperature. As the temperature rises and falls, the windows in the apartment react immediately to the change in temperature, and the heating may not have time to react as quickly to a sudden change in temperature.
If it is too cold in your apartment, you should check a few things first before submitting a fault report.
First of all, measure the temperature in your apartment. The room temperature should be 20–22 degrees. You can find instructions how to measure the temperature from this same page.
If the thermometer indicates that it is warm enough in the apartment, but you still feel cold, you should check if there is a draught coming from the windows.
- If there is a draught, check that all the locks on the window are properly secured. If even one lock has not been properly secured after washing, this can create a significant draught. If you do not have a window handle to check this, you can submit a fault report to request one.
- Check that ventilation works and that the vents have not been closed completely or otherwise blocked. If the apartment is not getting fresh air from the proper inlets, this will cause the air to enter in other ways – often it will be from the edges of the windows.
If the temperature in your apartment is repeatedly below 20 degrees, you should still check a few things before submitting a fault report.
- The thermostat needs time and space to work correctly. Do not place thick curtains or heat-producing devices like televisions in front of it. You should not place a bed or a couch directly in front of the thermostat either. The thermostat will detect the ambient temperature wrong and will not be able to adjust the temperature in the apartment correctly. In addition to this, the curtains and the furniture will block the heat from radiating into the room.
- Are you using any extra heaters? Extra heaters can also make the thermostat detect the temperature in the apartment incorrectly. The more you heat with extra heaters, the lower the thermostat will set the temperature.
If the ideas above do not solve the problem and the temperature is still less than 20 degrees in the apartment, please submit a fault report. In the fault report, please mention the solutions you have already tried as well as the current temperature of your apartment, so that we can get the matter looked into as soon as possible.
If you get a little cold in the winter, it is also common to be a little hot in the summer. The buildings adhere to the building regulations used at the time of their construction. For this reason, they do not always have air conditioning or other cooling systems. Fresh air enters the apartment via fresh air vents, which must not be blocked. The ventilation in the property is automatic and cannot be adjusted per apartment.
The Healthy Housing Guide (The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, 2003:1) (in Finnish) does not specify an upper guideline for the non-heating period in the summer. According to the Healthy Housing Guide: ”Room temperature should not be over +26°C, unless the rise in temperature is caused by outdoor heat." The room temperature guideline on the Hoas website applies to the heating period. The heating period begins when the average daily outdoor temperature drops to 15–17 degrees or lower.
You can lower the temperature with passive methods.
Passive methods include, for instance, reducing the heating effect of sunlight entering the apartment by covering windows with curtains and shades. Night-time airing (for example cross-draught at night) can cool the structures that heat up in the daytime. If you open windows during the day, remember that if the air outdoors is hotter than your indoor air, the airing may only serve to warm up the apartment more. When you air your apartment, please make sure the windows cannot slam shut and shatter the window glass. You should always use a window that is designed for airing.
Read more about the ventilation and airing.
It is worth remembering that particularly large appliances, such as televisions, computers, washing machines and ovens produce heat and thus further warm up the apartment. Therefore, if you are not using an appliance, turn it off to avoid producing extra heat.
You should also remember that individual cooling appliances can heat the room more than they cool it if they are incorrectly installed.
There are a few things to remember when measuring room temperature:
1. Room temperature is measured in the living area of the apartment, at least 0.6 metres from any walls and at a height of about 1 metre. Do not measure the temperature for example on the wall or against the window – these surfaces may be cooler than the living area.
2. You should carry out the measurement several times and at different times of the day. Your apartment may be a little cooler than normal first thing in the morning and any electronic devices you use will warm up the apartment when they are on.
3. Do not measure the temperature during the window is open or just been shut.
If the temperature in your apartment as measured by you is repeatedly below 20 degrees, please submit a fault report.
Our apartments are equipped with water circulation radiators, which are controlled by thermostatic valves. The valve adjusts water circulation in each radiator in such a way that the room temperature around the radiator is at desired levels and the space is not overheated. For this reason, radiators in different locations may provide differing levels of heat. The temperature of the water circulating in the radiators is automatically adjusted to the outdoor temperature – for example, when the outdoor temperature is 10 degrees, the temperature of the water in the radiators will be about 30 degrees. When the outdoor temperature drops to 0 degrees, the water temperature will already be about 40 degrees, and as the outdoor temperature drops further, the water temperature will increase accordingly.
The radiator may sometimes be cold or only its top may be warm, but this is perfectly normal. Even if the radiator feels cold, the room temperature may still be suitable and healthy.
Thermostat
The thermostat needs time and space to work correctly. Do not place thick curtains, large pieces of furniture or heat-producing devices like televisions in front of the thermostat. The thermostat will detect the ambient temperature from the air trapped between the thermostat and the piece of furniture and most likely adjust the temperature of the apartment incorrectly.
However, please make sure that during the heating season, the thermostat is never fully closed. If the thermostat is broken or has come off, please submit a fault report. You must never rotate thermostats by force. Their adjustment range is approximately 2–3 degrees.
The radiator in the bathroom is a water circulation radiator. The water circulation radiator is connected to the hot water system and its function is to keep the water flowing constantly in order to keep the hot water system’s temperature sufficiently high. Having the system at the correct temperature prevents the growth of bacteria and ensures you get warm water from the taps quickly. The radiator warms the bathroom whether the bathroom needs warming or not. Since the water circulation radiators are connected to the hot water system, they work even when the rest of the heating is off in the summer. Due to the reasons explained above you must not turn the radiator off and in fact the radiators do not have any controls that the tenant can change. Overheating in the bathroom is an unfortunate but common problem in the summer months.
Hoas does not recommend using extra heaters in the apartments. As you are getting used to the desired temperature of 20–22 degrees, the thought of an extra heater may seem tempting.
Why should you not use an extra heater? One reason for this is that when you use an extra heater, the thermostat on the radiator will misinterpret the temperature in the apartment to be too high. This will lead to a situation where you are trying to raise the temperature while the radiator is trying to lower it. Heaters left running at full power with no supervision can also be a safety risk. Additionally, extra heaters often cause fuses to blow repeatedly, because the load caused by a heater is too high for the fuse.
You must also remember that heaters do use energy, which in turn counteracts any energy saving benefits gained by keeping the temperature at a reasonable level. Energy saving does not mean that tenants should freeze in their apartments, but if the temperature in your apartment is the recommended 20–22 degrees, then perhaps you could try wearing woolly socks instead of using an extra heater. Beyond that, you should understand that you may well need to wear a little more than a t-shirt and shorts indoors in the winter.