As the weather cools down, some students are already suffering from chilly dorm rooms, while others are growing uncomfortably warm. Just how does the heating work?

According to Ralph Thayer of Facilities Management, the older dorms have cast-iron radiators that “tend to overshoot the control set-points and overheat the spaces.” By contrast, the newer dorms have copper fin tube systems that “tend to track the set-points pretty accurately, but cool quickly.” For most of the residential buildings, these set-points apply to a number of rooms, and are determined by sensors inside and outside the building. In Mertz, Alice Paul, and David Kemp, the rooms have individual temperature control.

If your room is too cold, you may be tempted to use a space heater. Unfortunately, space heaters “are forbidden” for three reasons, says Thayer.

Firstly, they are “high wattage items that stretch the limits of the electrical systems in place,” and their use “simply increases the likelihood of blacking out a series of rooms when the breaker pops.”

Secondly, if someone installs a space heater in a room with a general sensor, the resulting increase in the temperature reading can result in a “shut down” of that heating system.

Finally, space heaters are “an expensive way to heat and decidedly not ‘green.’” As Thayer notes, “We should be making a concerted effort to reduce electrical use, not increase it.”

What about those whose rooms are already roasting? Is it OK to open a window in an attempt to cool off? “That depends,” says Thayer. “If it’s the room with the sensor the temperature will go up!” He adds that the “best bet is to turn the radiator ‘off’ if the heat gets to be too much or to block it as per the ‘do not’ directives on the web page description of dorm heat.’”

But don’t “suffer through it,” he warns–students whose rooms are too warm should report the problem to Workbox (workbox@swarthmore.edu).