Roommate keeps turning AC on? Help!

Student Lounge College Life
1

I live in a college apartment with three other roommates. For the most part, we get along fine. Our electric bills are covered by our rent and we are not to set the thermostat below 65. Usually the temperature in the apartment is at 70 (no AC/heat), which is a comfortable temperature for me and two others. One of my roommates uses the AC excessively. The weather has been nice (high 60s, low 70s, and sunny).

We had this problem last semester, but she bought a fan for her room and keeps her window open and still complains that it s really hot. We ve had thermostat wars between the three of us and her. She s been turning the AC on to 60 lately (day and night), and we ve all been freezing!

We ve asked her nicely to stop turning the AC on as it gets as low as 43 at night and we get very cold. Despite us constantly turning the AC off and telling her it s too cold for us, she will turn it back on to 60! My other roommate turned it off again around 4AM this morning, complaining that it was 58 degrees in here, as the other one opened a window in the living room (45 degrees outside).

The semester is almost over, it s nice outside during the day, and she s complaining that she s hot while the rest of us are cold! She has a fan in her room and her window open, and I ve even put packing tape over the thermostat control only to have her rip it off at 2AM and turn the AC back on! We ve left notes on the whiteboard asking her to keep the AC off. I hate waking up freezing. Now what?

2

Just get through the semester and don’t live with her again. You might have to break out your winter blanket in the meantime.

3

I had a similar situation in that the master bedroom in my house gets really cold while the room across the hall holds in all the heat. Tell her to get a small air conditioning unit. Alternatively, since we were the only ones getting cold, we ended up getting a space heater and duct taping the windows shut. Everyone else had to foot the bill, and it was worth the extra cost… Also, is it just an air conditioner, or is there a heater too? Before we got the space heater, we wouldn’t just turn the AC off; we’d blast the heat for as long as possible. I’d usually be the brave soul running from the bedroom to the thermostat in the mornings to change the temperature.

4

Is she from Siberia or does she have a medical problem? 58 degrees is weird.

As a former landlord you need to caution her if she’s turning the A/C down very low. By that I mean below 67 degrees. She can freeze up the fan and you do not want to have to pay for the repairs. It’s an especially bad problem with people who open the windows and turn down the A/C. Show her this. She is abusing the landlord’s property.

5

I’m curious, what happens when you have a conversation about it? Does she agree, then do what she wants when your back is turned? Does she say that she pays rent too, so she can have it the way she wants?