Heating and Cooling

jasonbvr · (#1 (**permalink**))

I try not to complain too often, but sometimes things in Japan just don't make sense to me. Heating and cooling is a big one.

Why are most buildings and apartments so cheaply designed? There is no insulation in the walls and the windows are not just a single sheet of glass. In the winter time when it is really windy, you can put your hand next to my closed window and feel the cold coming in and the heat escaping.

Another question, why are they running the A/C with the bloody windows and doors open? It is like the concept of trapping air within a building has never occured to them.

One last question, why do the fans in the classroom blow air down instead of pulling it up like a normal ceiling fan? Do they know that hot air rises and that the ceiling fan is designed to pull that air away from you?

And I used to wonder why everyone carries around little fans and towels in the summer in Japan.

Nyororin · (#2 (**permalink**))

As far as I know, the lack of insulation is more a cost issue than anything - It seems that insulation is a sort of imported thing at this point. We considered building a house, and about died when we saw how much it would cost to do thorough insulation.
Double paned windows were even 6 times the cost of UV cut normal windows.

Another factor, in my opinion, is the cost of energy for heating and cooling to begin with. Even with all that insulation, it`s still going to cost you such an ungodly amount to heat or cool a single room that you really aren`t going to save that much. Even if my house were insulated extremely well, it would still cost me so much to heat or cool it that I don`t think I would ever get my money back for the insulation.
So even with insulation, we`d probably stick to tiny space heaters and rarely used AC in single rooms.
I remember back 4 or 5 years ago when I visited the house of someone who`d built a western-style insulated house and had a US style AC/heat pump system..... And they told me how much their power bill was each month in the summer. 80,000.
I`ll pass.

AC with the windows and doors open, and the down blowing ceiling fans really are a mystery to me. Sounds like stupidity more than anything. Is your school doing that? I can`t imagine how much their energy bills must be. *shudder*

jasonbvr · (#3 (**permalink**))

Today is the first day they ran the A/C which is only in the teachers' room of course. But yes, there is this sliding glass door that goes directly outside and it is open. Then the doors to the halls are open too. They actually haven't allowed the students to run the ceiling fans yet, but when I walk in a classroom I turn them on.

ChocoMousse · (#4 (**permalink**))

your ceiling fan question,
my reasoning is . . .
when you have a fan on, wouldn't you rather have it blow towards you
than away from you? i mean that's the whole point in having the fan in the first place right?

Excessum · (#5 (**permalink**))

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChocoMousse

your ceiling fan question,
my reasoning is . . .
when you have a fan on, wouldn't you rather have it blow towards you
than away from you? i mean that's the whole point in having the fan in the first place right?

A regular, horizontal fan- yes, but not the ceiling fan, which is ment to pull the hot air away, as Jason said.

gaijzilla · (#6 (**permalink**))

I'm so happy they have the AC in the teacher's room. The kids can wear their light gym clothes if they want, but we're stuck in our business formalwear.

What I don't understand, though, is why they run the AC in the teachers' room but also leave the teachers' room door open. What? We're going to allow our precious cool into the rest of the school? Very inefficient.