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Theresa Taylor's avatar

Let me preface this with I am in no way on the landlord's side, but... I'm going to venture a guess that there's a minimum temperature requirements for apartments that include heat in the rent. I like it cold. The thermostat upstairs (we have two zones) is set to 64. A co-worker has her thermostat set at 70. There are some people that are seriously sensitive to cold and as such, there might be a need for an additional heat source. That being said, wouldn't it make sense that ALL space heaters have a kill switch???

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Susan Campbell's avatar

What YOU said about the kill switch. And I like it cold, too. I don’t know the circumstances around this landlord, but isn’t it sad that so many deadly fires spring from these things?

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Tim Sullivan's avatar

Years ago NYC was able to push a regulation on gas cans . Want to bet they try the same thing to make space heaters safer?

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Susan Campbell's avatar

That would be a good start.

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Sharon Foster (CT)'s avatar

In Danbury there was a slumlord who owned hundreds of apartments. In particular there were some that had no heat except for kerosene heaters, which threw off a lot of moisture and the windows in those buildings were always wet on the inside. They looked like barracks. There was a fire in one of his other buildings years ago, but luckily all dozen or so tenants got out alive. Papa Slumlord is long gone. He was convicted once on some financial shenanigans, but not for murder. I guess his sons are doing better, since I don't hear about them nearly as much.

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Susan Campbell's avatar

It’s disgusting, when property owners are willing to freeze out tenants — or place them in danger over the cost of heat.

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Jan 11, 2022
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Sharon Foster (CT)'s avatar

I have very reliable hot air heat, but just in case I have one of the small oil-filled heaters that look like a small radiator. It works really well. The best little space heater I ever had was a Vortex, but the problem with those is they circulate every single dust particle in the room, even if I'd just vacuumed.

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Susan Campbell's avatar

Good advice. We have that one, so that if the thing tips over (or is moved), it shuts off. I don’t use it much, even in this drafty old house (where I control the temperature).

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