Talk:Room temperature

Problems
Red wine is supposed to be drunk at *cellar temperature* not room temperature, a good 10 degrees lower. Deleted. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.242.175.202 (talk) 06:54, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

This page needs work. The body of this article seems to be taken from a hypothetical "Room Temperature vis-a-vis Scientific Experiments" page. Surely there are other relevant factoids about room temperature unrelated to the concerns of scientists conducting experiments in rooms; maybe it can be explained why room temperature is so comfortable for humans, or if there is a minimum or maximum comfortable or safe room temperature.

Ambient does not mean room temperature; it means surrounding temperature. Ambient temperature might be -40 C to an airplane designer.

Ambient temperature. Wouldn't that also include the temperature of the objects in the room. Which can be different to air temperature of the room. If I turn off my heater in the front room now the temperature would fall fast because the objects in the room are below that of the air temperature. At least until the heating system has been switched on long enough. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.41.173.149 (talk) 15:26, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

Ambient temperature simply means "the temperature of the surroundings" and will be the same as room temperature indoors. This is simply wrong. What would be the point of living in an insulated, closed, conditioned space if it was the same temperature as the ambient (outdoor) temperature? Rarely are they the same; in winter, it's warmer indoors, and in summer, it's cooler. That's rather the point of having a conditioned space. Ian.macky (talk) 15:57, 12 November 2014 (UTC)

I might be accused of nit-picking, but I changed "300 kelvins" to 300 "Kelvin" in the Scientific Calculations section, as per proper form. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 134.53.178.1 (talk • contribs).
 * But uncapitalized plural is correct? Femto 11:48, 12 February 2007 (UTC)


 * The proper form is not to pluralise it so the point is moot. 79.77.119.165 (talk) 13:01, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
 * As noted at Kelvin, since a kelvin is not measured relative to an arbitrary reference point like the Celsius and Fahrenheit scales, but is rather an absolute unit of measure which can be manipulated algebraically, it is indeed correct to use the plural form for more than 1 kelvin, just as the word "degrees" should not be used. I fixed it.  ★NealMcB★ (talk) 19:10, 28 July 2011 (UTC)

Sorry, I try to be tolerant here, but it really is important to be in complete command of the language when writing an article - there are too many vague or incomprehensible formulations here, starting with the first sentence: "within enclosed space at which humans are accustomed" (what does that mean? - a question which it shouldn't be necessary to ask). Article quite simply needs rewriting in English. Also: as remarked elsewhere, "ambient" is not the same as "room" temperature, even on the ground. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.54.176.85 (talk) 11:10, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Whose standard?
Where do you get the standard room temperature is 22 °C? I more often see 20 °C called standard room temperature, and have seen other values as well--but I don't recall ever having seen 22 °C called by that name. Gene Nygaard 02:37, 30 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Human comfort
- human comfort is a debatable subject.

I'm from caribbean, living on USA (south florida 8-D ), and I prefer something around 78°F (25°C) inside or  90°f (32°C) and up outside, to "feel comfortable". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.213.180.253 (talk) 15:57, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

At 20°C hands are too cold to type comfortably. @ 22°C you can sit in a T-shirt all day. However, from a scientific point of view 1) 20°C=68°F exactly, thus, convenient. Another reason, "By law, residential owners must provide sufficient heat between October 1 and May 31. During this period, between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., if the outside temperature is below 55 degrees Fahrenheit, owners must heat apartments to at least 68 degrees Fahrenheit." :) (DL, 23 Oct 2005).


 * I'm perfecly comfortable naked in my room at 26-27°C, but I need body full clothing when it's 20°C or less in my basement room near the cold ground at this time of year. I think a section on human comfort would be appropriate in this article, so I've halved Cheriyan's above question and put it together with mine. 72.136.196.113 06:03, 7 October 2006 (UTC)


 * "By law, residential owners must provide sufficient heat between October 1..." By whose law?  I'm asuming that is some United States law due to the use of Fahrenheit.  But where in the US?  Is it a national law, state level, or something else?  Is it a statute, a common law, a regulation?  It sounds practical and I agree it is a fair statement, but you need to cite that.  This link states a law for Connecticut (and a few others) that is similar in purpose, but different in numbers. --Trakon 08:28, 9 November 2006 (UTC)
 * This depends on local climate and the acclimatisation of the individual. Personally based in northern England I find 20°C a little on the warm side.  That is not an uncommon opinion around here.  Too cold to type would be below about 15°C.  In short you can't make hard and fast rules about such things. 79.77.119.165 (talk) 13:06, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Agreed - I'm also in northern England; the temperature in this room is now dropping below a comfortable level for wearing a tshirt (our boiler's broken and it's snowing outside), and is at 14.6°C. Normally I'd keep it at 16-17° or so - although I'd say that it's still easily warm enough at 14.6° to type :-) --82.70.156.254 (talk) 18:46, 24 November 2010 (UTC)
 * You guys wear t-shirts at 15°C?! Are you hyperthyroid or something? :-P WACGuy (talk) 01:15, 3 January 2011 (UTC)
 * I've always considered "room temperature" to be 61°F, approx 16°C, that's what I recall being marked on thermometers here in the UK (before they started being imported). 15°C is certainly fine to be wearing a T-shirt in; many people from Northern England wear T-shirts outdoors all year round! 109.176.133.116 (talk) 13:04, 26 October 2011 (UTC)

who is Rankine?
A minor quibble, but surely Kelvin - the SI unit of temperature - should be mentioned before the Rankine or "absolute Fahrenheit" scale which is virtually unheard-of outside the USA


 * Even in the US where I am, reading about computational physics a lot, I've never seen that unit 98.119.149.245 (talk) 15:41, 12 March 2014 (UTC)

Range
It says 20 to 23 degrees C but 293 to 298 K. There is a mistake here.

If there is a mistake, please correct it and cite it if possible or required. Thebestkiano 15:45, 18 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Corrected upper temp. K=C+273  -- Blind  Eagle  talk ~ contribs  16:27, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

I believe the error was in the degrees C line and not in the Kelvin line. Most common definitions in the fields of both chemistry and biology list room temperature as between 20 and 25 degrees C (or 293 to 298 K). 24.205.237.46 (talk) 02:06, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Content
I have just a small problem with this statement: "A study carried out at the University of Uppsala (Sweden)[2], on indoor air quality and subjective indoor air quality (SIAQ) in primary schools, states that perception of high room temperature was related to a poor climate of cooperation. To achieve a good SIAQ, it recommends room temperature should be at a maximum of 22.0 °C (71.6 °F)." The way this idea is stated infers that the poor climate of cooperation may lead to the perception of high room temperature, or vice versa. It's simply a correlational study, which I don't think has much to do with the premise of the article. Niubrad 06:08, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

I have a problem with the mere inclusion of "ambient" temperature in this article. The eloquent writing doesn't conceal the fact that the author could not have consulted any dictionary to learn the correct meaning of the word, one which may "feel" like it is related, in meaning, to "room temperature" but is not, at all. A quick visit to Dictionary.com finds several fine definitions, including the following:

am⋅bi⋅ent /ˈæmbiənt/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [am-bee-uhnt] –adjective 1. 	of the surrounding area or environment: The tape recorder picked up too many ambient noises. The temperature in the display case was 20° lower than the ambient temperature. 2. 	completely surrounding; encompassing: the ambient air. Origin: 1590–1600; (< MF) < L ambient- (s. of ambiēns, prp. of ambīre to go around), equiv. to amb- ambi- + -i- go + -ent- -ent

--Rsmg (talk) 12:06, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Rankine and Kelvins
We're talking about room temperature here, why not only use units that I'm sure 99% of the human population use to measure temperature, Fahrenheit and Celsius. I think adding Kelvins and Rankine is just too much unnecessary info. Wikidan829 (talk) 02:29, 13 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Kelvin is one thing, but Rankine? That scale is irrelevant to almost everyone, with the exception of a few U.S. engineering fields. Kelvin is used throughout science, the U.S. included. 81.158.1.233 (talk) 02:46, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

Shouldn't there be a reference for Scientific room temperature? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 146.186.238.26 (talk) 16:32, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

Room Temperature in cooking
Room temperature in cooking may often be determined by holding left index finger in the air, and right index in subject. i.e. to determin water, right index should be held under running spout, or cake batter, index finger should be held in batter. left handed people can use opposite index fingers. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.153.30.144 (talk) 15:36, 17 July 2008 (UTC)


 * What??? 98.119.149.245 (talk) 15:43, 12 March 2014 (UTC)

Room temperature in GSP
it is 0~30 degree C. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.220.233.83 (talk) 12:40, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

Temperature & Pharmaceutical Science
The U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP/NF) defines several terms relating to the storage of pharmaceutical products. 20°C to 25°C (68°F to 77°F) is given as the definition of "controlled room temperature", and you will see this listed on many pharmaceutical products.

"Warm" is defined as any temperature between 30°C and 40°C (86°F and 104°F).

"Excessive Heat" is any temperature above 40°C (104°F).

"Cool" is any temperature between 8°C and 15° (46°F and 59°F), and any temperature not exceeding 8°C (46°F) is defined as "cold". Quintab (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 21:01, 9 September 2009 (UTC).

Room Temperature Range
I changed a few numbers around in this article. The range originally given for room temperature, 20° to 29°C, is way too high from my experiences. In the winter time, I set the thermostat to about 60°F (15-16°C), and in the summer time, I set it to 77°F (25°C), so 15-25°C seemed like a more appropriate range. I don't know about you but with those settings, I feel comfortable year round. ~June 2, 2011 19:31 EDT (UTC-4)

...where do you live, Svalbard or Baffin Island? Because I thought room temperature is supposed to be 28. 123.201.146.76 (talk) 20:26, 16 June 2015 (UTC)

20 to 29 sounds right to me. Currently my apartment is 83F, and I'm wearing jeans and a Nike golf shirt without any kind of fan blowing at me. I've been sitting like this for the last hour and I feel perfectly comfortable. I'm actually comfortable up to 86F, though with shorts and a lighter shirt. On the other hand, my office is 69F, and I can't stand it at all, so I wear a sport coat to work. 2600:8800:1300:401:E1BD:B108:7EFB:51E4 (talk) 01:16, 19 September 2017 (UTC)

I think that the numbers for a comfortable room temperature varies with region. I am a Nigerian and anything below 24 degrees would be cold for many Nigerians. I suspect that this may be generally true in tropical climates, but the use of biased sources shows otherwise. I will edit the page to reflect this.TEK1 (talk) 16:13, 5 March 2021 (UTC)

Simple English Wikipedia
The article on Room temperature at the Simple English Wikipedia looks somewhat better than this one... I'll copy some material over, unless someone else does it first (with proper attribution!), when I get a chance. Allens (talk) 15:46, 10 November 2011 (UTC)


 * Done. Allens (talk) 17:01, 11 November 2011 (UTC)


 * The above attribution was moved from the article to the Talk page to avoid cluttering the article with the editing history record. —BarrelProof (talk) 22:05, 7 January 2015 (UTC)

Error - typo
Section 2 in "comfort levels" cites 'W mids PH Obs (UK)' as 118 (!!) degrees should be 21C according to the article quoted 86.136.102.36 (talk) 19:21, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

From article: According to the West Midlands Public Health Observatory (UK),[1] an adequate level of warmth for older people (aged 58 and above) is 23 °C (73 °F) in the living room, and 24 °C (75 °F) in other occupied rooms. Yet the cited PDF says: This means a temperature of 21°C in the living room and 18°C in other occupied rooms. Where did the 23°/24° come from? Yeryry (talk) 15:05, 7 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Clearly, someone was vandalizing the numbers. I corrected those I could easily verify by following the citation links for WMPHO and BBC News. —BarrelProof (talk) 21:26, 7 January 2015 (UTC)

Added new section - Liquid metals

 * The article for caesium says "It has a melting point of 28.5 °C (83.3 °F), making it one of the few elemental metals that are liquid near room temperature", which raises the question "What are the others?". As room temperature is linked in that sentence, this seems like the place to say what those elements are. Unfortunately I don't know what the remaining metals are, so perhaps others can add them. :-)
 * 85.211.237.252 (talk) 09:19, 20 June 2018 (UTC)
 * thanks for the contribution. I decided to move it to the Liquid metal article instead. I'm not sure if it's totally appropriate there, but I think more so than here. I don't think we can have in this article a listing of all the things that happen at room temperature, e.g. mercury or water becoming liquid, butter getting soft, and so on. This article is about the concept and definition of room temperature itself. The reason there is a section about wine is that in the context of wine serving, the concept of room temperature itself is different (lower) than usual, i.e., 18 °C rather than the typical 20-21 °C. Btw., in the caesium article, in the first paragraph there is a note #2, that lists the other metals. --IamNotU (talk) 14:57, 20 June 2018 (UTC)

Removing paragraph on WHO thermal comfort guidance
The paragraph in the "thermal comfort" section quoting the WHO's guidance on room temperature is unsourced trash plagiarized word-for-word from a BBC article (linked in the first citation). I should note, here, that copying article text from another source is plagiarism (even if cited; that's not what citations are for), and is against the rules. The second citation is irrelevant to the paragraph's content. I'm going to delete the entire paragraph, and, if I can find the original WHO recommendation, replace it; otherwise, I'll leave it out. 99.250.22.119 (talk) 15:56, 10 May 2020 (UTC)


 * I guess it can't be both unsourced and word-for-word copied from a BBC article? The BBC is usually considered a reliable source, it can be reasonably expected to have accurately represented the WHO guidelines. The piece has other relevant information that could be used to expand the article. Please don't remove the citation, thanks. --IamNotU (talk) 19:58, 10 May 2020 (UTC)
 * PS I've replaced the close paraphrase, and removed the irrelevant source. Thanks for pointing it out. --IamNotU (talk) 20:17, 10 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the quick response! I want to clarify: the "unsourced trash" part of my comment was, perhaps rudely, referring to the BBC article itself, not necessarily to its inclusion in this page (because, as you noted, it was cited). My plagiarism comment stands; thanks for fixing that. The BBC article mentions WHO guidelines, but gives no indication of where they can be found, when they were produced, or any context with respect to why they were published. A better source for this paragraph, now that the copy-pasting issue's been fixed, would be the WHO itself or an article that actually cites the WHO's guidelines. I found this interesting article which notes the frequent quotation of these WHO guidelines and the difficulty in finding them. If you can access it, you'll find it contains the information we're looking for. You can find the referenced WHO report here, but as it's very old and very long, I think the later analysis is a better source for this page because it contains a modern perspective on the original WHO report.
 * If it's ok with you, I'd like to suggest replacing the BBC citation with Ormandy and Ezratty. Also, I would rewrite the first sentence to incorporate the range 18 °C to 24 °C (the BBC article incorrectly quotes only the lower bound of the comfortable temperature range).99.250.22.119 (talk)
 * Thanks for finding that paper. Looking at the WHO reports it mentions, the information in the BBC article originates in the 1987 report, "Health impact of low indoor temperatures". I can't find a copy online. The information is cited and reprinted in this 1990 book: "Indoor environment : health aspects of air quality, thermal environment, light and noise", here on page 17: . The connection between this and the 1968 report doesn't seem as strong as Ormandy and Ezratty indicate.
 * The most recent WHO guideline is from 2018: . It cites the 1987 report's 18-24˚C range, with the higher minimum for vulnerable groups, though it doesn't repeat the specific numbers of 20 and 16. It reviews evidence for it; there is a systematic review regarding cold temperatures in an appendix here:, and warm temperatures here:.
 * I did a quick update and cited the 1990 publication. I also added a paragraph based on the 2018 guidelines. I'd still prefer to leave the BBC citation in as well, as it's not inaccurate. --IamNotU (talk) 18:05, 11 May 2020 (UTC)
 * PS, the 1968 report is largely concerned with thermal comfort, but the later ones focus on health risks, so I added a new section. I suppose the 1968 one could also be cited in the thermal comfort section, but it seems a bit over the hill at 50 years old... --IamNotU (talk) 18:09, 11 May 2020 (UTC)
 * I like these changes; thanks for making them. Cheers99.250.22.119 (talk) 18:12, 11 May 2020 (UTC)
 * PS, the 1968 report is largely concerned with thermal comfort, but the later ones focus on health risks, so I added a new section. I suppose the 1968 one could also be cited in the thermal comfort section, but it seems a bit over the hill at 50 years old... --IamNotU (talk) 18:09, 11 May 2020 (UTC)
 * I like these changes; thanks for making them. Cheers99.250.22.119 (talk) 18:12, 11 May 2020 (UTC)

Oil versus Fat -- New Section?
While researching lipids and the difference between fats and oils, the main difference was physical state at room temperature. A popular search engine sent me here when a searched for 'room temperature'. Maybe a mention here? 216.75.114.13 (talk) 02:05, 1 December 2022 (UTC)