It is known that winter in Poland can be demanding, but this year our problems seem never-ending. For a long time, the touchscreen of our thermostat, one of those modern ones that also spy on our daily lives, displayed a message instead of the current temperature inside the house. The message was about monitoring our energy consumption to increase efficiency, but I never read it to the end. Underneath the message, there was an “OK” button. I ignored it, thinking that nothing good would come out of it.
One day, my wife decided to check the temperature. While searching through the thermostat, she saw the message.
“What is this?” she asked.
“It’s an offer to monitor our energy consumption,” I replied.
“How do we get rid of it?” my wife asked.
“I don’t know,” I replied, “but whatever you do, avoid pressing the button…”
I watched as my wife pressed the OK button.
After a week of monitoring, we realized that our thermostat had come to the shocking conclusion that nobody was living in our house. As a result, it made the appropriate heating adjustments, basically only enough to prevent the pipes from freezing. Initially, we didn’t notice because the weather was unusually warm for this time of year. Unfortunately, everything suddenly changed.
“It’s showing 9°C on this thermostat!” my wife exclaimed, standing in front of it with her arms folded.
“It’s a shame I don’t have the technical knowledge to explain why all of this is your fault,” I said.
“We can’t live like this,” she said.
“Fortunately,” I said, “you can work around it by turning the dial clockwise to increase the temperature.”
“Oh,” she said, adjusting the temperature on the thermostat to 20°C. “That’s better.”
“Unfortunately,” I said, “as soon as the next scheduled change in the program occurs, it will return to the previous settings.”
“Fix it!” she said.
“Fortunately, I have an app on my phone that allows me to modify the schedule from anywhere,” I replied.
“Yes, please,” she said.
“Unfortunately,” I said, “the thermostat unexpectedly disconnected from the wifi and refuses to acknowledge that we have wifi.”
“We need to do something about this,” she said.
“We could move,” I replied, “but on cold mornings, we shouldn’t show potential home buyers.”
The cat and dog follow me from room to room, thinking they need to find somewhere warmer. Only the turtle is content. Thanks to the winter hiatus, which it doesn’t normally experience with the underfloor heating in the kitchen, it spends its days motionless, clinging to the washing machine. I envy its approach to winter: by the time it feels anything again, it will be mid-March.
My electric radiator-heated office cabin has suddenly become the most comfortable place. I wake up early just to be there. In my wife’s office, where one of the kids used to sleep, the radiator is icy. She works in her coat and comes to my cabin three times a day to complain.
“It’s wonderful in here,” she says, sitting down.
“Oh, it’s snowing,” I say, looking out the window.
“Maybe I can come here and work together with you,” she says.
“Somebody has to stay at home,” I reply, “to regulate the temperature when it changes on its own.”
“I’ve already done it four times today,” she says. “It’s not helping.”
“That’s strange,” I say.
I follow her home to investigate. For now, the thermostat is set to 20°C. The radiators at the back of the house are working, but the ones at the front are cold. This forces me to reconsider my understanding of the central heating system, which I always thought was like a spiral chain with radiators placed like beads. Now, I have to entertain the possibility that it’s more like a mountain tram – steeply ascending at the back of the house, descending at the front, and blocking somewhere near the top. Or maybe there are two separate branches, one working and the other not. Either way, I can no longer blame my wife for pressing buttons.
“Now I think we have at least two issues with our heating,” I tell my wife.
“Are you going to explain both of them to me?” she asks.
“Yes,” I reply. “The first one is the unrelenting stubbornness of our thermostat-robot, devoid of any emotions.”
“And the second one is a hydraulic problem caused by the hasty installation of the towel warmer in the bathroom.”
“We already had a towel warmer in the bathroom,” my wife says. “It just didn’t work.”
“Frankly, it’s pure arrogance,” I respond. “Is there something wrong with a towel at room temperature?”
“If it’s a hydraulic issue, let’s call Mark to fix it. What should I tell him?”
“Please, don’t tell him anything I said,” I reply.
FAQ Section:
1. What caused the issue with the thermostat?
– The thermostat displayed a message instead of the current temperature inside the house, regarding monitoring energy consumption.
2. What should be done if the message doesn’t disappear?
– Press the “OK” button on the thermostat.
3. What were the consequences of ignoring the message?
– The thermostat adjusted the heating only to prevent the pipes from freezing.
4. How to change the temperature on the thermostat?
– Rotate the dial clockwise to increase the temperature.
5. How to add a heating schedule?
– Use an app on your phone that allows for modifying the schedule.
6. What to do if the thermostat is not connected to wifi?
– Check the wifi connection and ensure that the thermostat recognizes it.
7. Is moving an option due to heating problems?
– Yes, moving is one option, but remember not to showcase potential home buyers the winter mornings’ heating issues.
8. How does underfloor heating work?
– Underfloor heating provides warmth by laying pipes beneath the floor, allowing for even and efficient heating of the rooms.
9. How to solve the issue of freezing radiators?
– Contact a professional who can diagnose and fix possible heating system malfunctions.
10. How to contact Mark for repairs?
– Contact Mark directly, but don’t disclose all the information related to the problem you discussed earlier.
Related Links:
– Link to resources about home heating.
The source of the article is from the blog yanoticias.es