Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Cat vs. panel heater: which is better?

oneroof.co.nz

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 163 posts

Re: Cat vs. panel heater: which is better?

#91

Post by oh_sigh »

Legogris wrote: post #67
Polylactic_acid wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried just adding more blankets. I never run heating at night because I find that even at 0c outside I can just stack up 4 blankets and still be warm.

Having slept outdoors a lot in the past, I think many people underestimate the importance of the ground/floor/bed in keeping from freezing. If you have excess blankets, it could make more difference to put them under you as opposed to above you. Even spruce branches or cardboard will lift you from the ground enough to make a difference in a pinch.

This is why homeless people are stereotyped as sleeping on cardboard with a newspaper as a blanket. Because they actually do, because even paper is a great insulator that you can scavenge easily.

Re: Cat vs. panel heater: which is better?

#92

Post by dkersten »

BLKNSLVR wrote: post #68
dkersten wrote: post #2

Not sure where they got their cost estimate from, but I spend a lot more than $250/year on each of my two cats (and 250 NZD is only ~160 USD). Still, fun article :)

I recently had to choose between these two options: 1. Removal of splinter from pet cat's eyeball: $1,650 2. Removal of cat's eyeball: $1,400 Blew out my pet budget for a long while. I have the photo that the vet ophthalmologist took - they were cool enough to send it to us.

Oh wow. I’m sorry for you and your cat, that seriously sucks.

Re: Cat vs. panel heater: which is better?

#93

Post by thaumasiotes »

Torkel wrote: post #73
Legogris wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having slept outdoors a lot in the past, I think many people underestimate the importance of the ground/floor/bed in keeping from freezing. If you have excess blankets, it could make more difference to put them under you as opposed to above you. Even spruce branches or cardboard will lift you from the ground enough to make a difference in a pinch.

I agree - I packed an air mattress to sleep on during camping when it was cold on the ground. The air didn't insulate as well as I expected so I was freezing from below. There are so many things around us that are such incredible achievements in comfort over not having them. It is a good experience living without some of them for a while to get appreciation for it: - electricity - heating - beds - running water - sho…

> I packed an air mattress to sleep on during camping when it was cold on the ground. The air didn't insulate as well as I expected so I was freezing from below.

No sleeping bag?

Re: Cat vs. panel heater: which is better?

#94

Post by [deleted] »

reaperducer wrote: post #13

I was once desperately poor. Too poor to turn on the heat. But I did have access to friendly cats, so I've been through this experiment in real life. One cat stuffed under the blankets at night is a significant improvement. But as you add more and more cats, the improvement becomes only incremental. I eventually learned that two cats was really the best one could hope for. Best positioning is between the legs, and wi…

[deleted]

Re: Cat vs. panel heater: which is better?

#96

Post by Torkel »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #93
Torkel wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree - I packed an air mattress to sleep on during camping when it was cold on the ground. The air didn't insulate as well as I expected so I was freezing from below. There are so many things around us that are such incredible achievements in comfort over not having them. It is a good experience living without some of them for a while to get appreciation for it: - electricity - heating - beds - running water - sho…

> I packed an air mattress to sleep on during camping when it was cold on the ground. The air didn't insulate as well as I expected so I was freezing from below. No sleeping bag?

No, for some reason I decided to use a regular duvet. With a sleeping bag it would probably have been less of an issue.

Re: Cat vs. panel heater: which is better?

#97

Post by xsmasher »

guycook wrote: post #85

Sorry to be the downer on this article, but if you head to oneroof's "news" page [0] you'll see their entire raison d'être is to push out articles for NZ's media outlets to reproduce in the hopes of encouraging the continued misallocation of capital into residential real estate. So them making light of the house heating situation is in extremely poor taste considering such issues as NZ being the only developed countr…

Can you connect the last dot for me and explain why "(mis)allocation of capital into residential real estate" is bad for warmth, affordability, and fighting rheumatic fever?

Re: Cat vs. panel heater: which is better?

#98

Post by postingawayonhn »

jpollock wrote: post #58
gpm wrote: post #33

$675 for 2250kWh of electricity? They're doing something wrong. That's 30 cents per kwh of heat . Even if you just use resistive heating you beat that in every state, and probably most of the rest of the world. But it's better than that, because that's heat not electricity. 4 watts of heat transfer for 1 watt of electricity is reasonable with a heat pump, so it's $1.20, or if you consider that co-efficient of perform…

NZD $0.30 = USD$0.20 However, even that can't be compared, because in NZ, electricity charges include all distribution costs. Americans typically only look at the generator charge per kwh, ignoring transmission, lines and any daily charges. The breakdown works out approximately [1]: 30% - generator 10% - national transmission network 26% - local lines operator 20% - retailer 13% - sales tax New Zealand has split tran…

> The amazing thing is that in a country of On one hand it's amazing bit on the other it shows a certain level of inefficiency. In my view one of NZ's biggest problems when it comes to productivity is the need to duplicate effort in so many areas.

Re: Cat vs. panel heater: which is better?

#99

Post by potatochup »

xsmasher wrote: post #97
guycook wrote: post #85

Sorry to be the downer on this article, but if you head to oneroof's "news" page [0] you'll see their entire raison d'être is to push out articles for NZ's media outlets to reproduce in the hopes of encouraging the continued misallocation of capital into residential real estate. So them making light of the house heating situation is in extremely poor taste considering such issues as NZ being the only developed countr…

Can you connect the last dot for me and explain why "(mis)allocation of capital into residential real estate" is bad for warmth, affordability, and fighting rheumatic fever?

Presumably, high rates of investment drive up prices (since supply is somewhat constrained). High prices reduce the ability for people to purchase, so they have to rent, but then higher purchase price means the investors have to increase rent too. This means there is a lot of demand at the low end of the housing market, where houses aren't as well maintained/insulated/upgraded

Re: Cat vs. panel heater: which is better?

#100

Post by tonyedgecombe »

rurp wrote: post #19

The first time I took my cat camping it was much colder than expected. At bed time I filled a bottle with hot water and wrapped my cat up in a blanket with it. Being a cat, he immediately squirmed his way out of it and started walking around the freezing tent. I was starting to get worried until the little guy realized he could just barely squeeze into my zipped up sleeping bag. It was a big mess of fur and limbs all…

You took your cat camping?
Post reply on HN