Thermostat Usability
This is what my apartment thermostats look like. Usable or not? Why or why not?
- 5 Feb 03
- usability
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This the personal website of Joshua Kaufman, an interaction designer living in San Francisco. I blog about design, technology, products and getting things done. I also occasionally publish projects. Most of my web activity is available on FriendFeed. You can contact me via email at or otherwise.
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Comments
Holy cow, I don’t think I’ve seen a thermostat as un-usable as that one!
- What is the comfort zone (from what to what)?
- According to the numbers, dead center is 72.5, but there are no tick marks to identify numbers other than, 55 and 90.
- How does one know the actual versus set temps?
- Can I go below 55 and above 90? by how much and to what degree?
- Is there some other control to turn the furnace off completely?
There is probably lots of other weird things, but I’m so baffled I can’t think of them.
Nate on 5 Feb 03
Nice! You should make new labels for everything outside the comfort zone…the “un-comfort zone,” perhaps?
Brad Lauster on 6 Feb 03
Is any thermostat usable? At least yours has a comfort zone - I guess my place is perpetually unconfortable by those standards.
The one we use at work is even worse. It’s one of those with the two sliders on it, so you have to figure out the correct ratio of the “hot-slider” to “cool-slider” - it is always either too damn hot or too damn cold.
Keith on 6 Feb 03
Well, I’ll take the other view, then:
- Not having numbers means that the arguments are over “it’s too hot for me” which is what matters, not “this arbitrary number in one particular part of one room is not what I’m programmed to think is right.”
- Thermostats are fairly delicate, but dirt cheap, and thus inaccurate. As it ages and warps and the temperature that results from a particular setting changes, you don’t have to argue with yourself over whether the number where you are comfortable is evil or morally superior.
- At some point, you need an indicator that it has gotten too old, and warped too far from where it started: that’s the uncomfort zone. When your comfortable temperature falls clear outside the comfort zone, it’s time for a new thermostat.
Phil Ringnalda on 6 Feb 03