Talk:Thermal comfort

Just learned of Ole's death, and added the info to the article. He was an interesting fellow, and will be missed. FactsAndFigures 03:20, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

No net heat exchange
I just deleted "Theoretically, human thermal comfort is achieved when there is no net heat exchange between the individual and his environment." That's not true. Human metabolism produces heat, and there is a need to dissipate this heat to the environment. There needs to be a net flow of heat out of the human (if alive).Ccrrccrr (talk) 14:10, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

Data needs citation
The specific data on winter/summer temperatures needs a citation. Not only for verifiability, but because this is really an opinion, not a hard fact, even if it's the opinion of a standards organization. We need to say whose opinion it is.Ccrrccrr (talk) 11:36, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Effect of Obesity on indoor temperature comfort range.
There is mention that an individual person's comfortable temperature range can be affected by their health etc. But I think that perhaps more mention should be given to this. I have found through personal experience that overweight and obese people tend to prefer unusually low temperatures for their comfort level that fall significantly below the lowest level in the stated comfort ranges for winter and summer. (Like 65 degrees F or lower even during the summer) This leads to disagreements between the obese and non-obese as to what constitutes a comfortable indoor temperature in office and home environments. As the obesity epidemic continues, and gets worse, these disagreements are likely to become more common and contentious.68.103.60.116 (talk) 15:36, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

Clothing Insulation & 'clo'
The description of the 'clo' unit in the 'Clothing insulation' section says: Clo units can be converted to R-value in SI units (m²·K/W) or RSI) by multiplying clo by 0.155 (1 clo = 0.155 RSI). (In English units 1 clo corresponds to an R-value of 0.88 °F·ft²·h/Btu.)

I think this is seriously misleading, partly because the 'clo' unit itself is misleading. The statement implies that clo is a per-unit-area measurement in the same way that building insulation for example is measured per-unit-area. But AFAIK the clo is not a per-unit-area measurement; it is a whole body measurement for a complete item of clothing. So the clo value of a T-shirt is the total resistance of the T-shirt, not the resistance per unit area of the T-shirt. The area supposedly used in the definition is actually the surface area of the standard manikin (doll) used to measure the resistance. As such there is no simple way to convert 'clo' values to R values. IMHO, the dimensions of the clo unit are stated incorrectly.

This is all based on the information in http://rp.ashrae.biz/page/RP411.pdf ("A comprehensive data base for estimating clothing insulation", ASHRAE, E.A. McCullough, 1984)

Oh, and by the way, °F·ft²·h/Btu are not English units; they are American units. England and the rest of the UK has used metric units for such measurements for a long time now. 131.111.85.79 (talk) 15:17, 2 March 2011 (UTC)

you're welcome to add detail sections from the following that are missing in the current article
you're welcome to add detail sections from the following that are missing in the current article

Factors determining thermal comfort include:
 * Personal factors regarding the occupants (health, psychology, sociology & situational factors)
 * Insulative clothing (Clo Value)
 * Activity levels (Met Rate)
 * General Factors of the thermal environment
 * Air temperature
 * Mean radiant temperature
 * Relative humidity (see also perspiration)
 * Air speed (the rate of air movement at a point)
 * Local Thermal Discomforts
 * Draft (see wind chill factor)
 * Radiant Temperature Asymmetry
 * Floor Surface Temperature (see also underfloor heating)
 * Vertical Air Temperature Difference

Waveclaira (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 05:15, 20 September 2012 (UTC)

What a technical article for someone who's looking for some very basic info !
Missing from the intro : what is considered the average comfort zone for human beings ? (merely in terms of air temperature and relative humidity, probably) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.253.233.153 (talk) 17:49, 24 February 2014 (UTC)

I tried.75.83.201.81 (talk) 20:43, 1 February 2018 (UTC)

Behavioral
There is little discussion in the literature (that I have seen) of a simple behavioral adaptation which is difficult to measure. Parent and child (or a couple) cuddling are in a different thermal environment than separated. A pet on the lap can provide the same function. Consider the historical meaning of a three dog night.75.83.201.81 (talk) 20:31, 1 February 2018 (UTC)

Medical environments section
The Medical environments section has a single source tag. That is not the problem. The content is a sourced editorial on the research which has not been done. The section is a candidate for deletion.75.83.201.81 (talk) 19:10, 3 February 2018 (UTC)

Incorrect reference
Reference 37 leads to the wrong page in the magazine. A correct URL is:

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=td4DAAAAMBAJ&dq=Cold+air+high+humidity+feels+colder&q=humidity+feels+colder — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.97.62.77 (talk) 14:52, 12 April 2019 (UTC)

Activity level comfort
To know the comfort of human when in an activity of doing something 102.91.4.44 (talk) 08:18, 1 December 2022 (UTC)

Humidity does not increase air's thermal conductivity
It should be mentioned in the article that moister air is actually less conductive of heat. This is shown in an article by Clemens Lasance. At terrestrial air temperatures, the effect of humidity on thermal conductivity is effectively zero, surely way too small for our skin to detect. Even at the boiling point of water, humidity only affects the conductivity of air by about 12%. Whatever is going on that makes people think cold air feels significantly colder when it's humid, it's nothing to do with how insulative the moist air is. —mjb (talk) 16:36, 2 January 2024 (UTC)