The working from home thread: tips and advice

side by side is more evil than above & below, much easier to slightly lower or raise your eyeline than whipping head side to side like you're at wimbledon.

I disagree with that meme.

More than one monitor just means I'm diluting my rage.

they delivered 2 of these by mistake when we ordered one with the stuff for my gf's home office.

I tried the spare but it was just annoying after a while. it's now on the floor under my workbench in my hobby room to avoid errant paint splatter but it's constantly slipping around and getting in the way so just thinking of ditching it. sadly we're nowhere near anything anymore to make it worth the effort to offer on here.

I wonder if double-sided tape onto the carpet would stop it moving around? Gotta still be better than the carpet scrunching I get now.

Lots of tape glue leaves residue on carpet, especially wool ones, if left for ages.

Just nail it down with carpet tacks?

No glue, no tacks. Maybe will try the mat and see if it's any good. If not it can go under a bike or something.

Then I'll burn the carpet and run it on the floor.

Attach the hook half of some velcro to the back of the mat, and hope that the carpet acts as the loops?

I trap under the leg of my desk which stops the movement, but agree it can be prone to movement

I guess the best way for crypto traders falls under neutral evil

It's too hot.

What are people with home offices doing? I'm currently running two fans constantly, one to push cooler air into the office, and one to circulate the air within the office to try and get it cooler.

Seriously considering a portable air con unit like one of these though: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Delonghi-PAC-EX100-Portable-Conditioner/dp/B09W32T9DF/

Anyone got something like that? Bad things to say about it (i.e. too damn noisy)?

One of my old jobs was in an exceptionally old building where the aircon routinely failed so we had a couple of those.

They work well. Ime the issues are:

1. running the hose out of a window, you need to make a blocking board to fill the gap otherwise hot air comes back in - does that make sense?
   
2. Depending on your location there is also a risk of increased noise and pollution from the open window.
   
3. The hose is also gets a bit dirty.
   
4. It's a bit of a lump from a storage pov.
   

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But yeah they work and will make your space cool.

What are people with home offices doing?

Mostly living in the middle floor of an Edwardian house that's been chopped up into flats. We are kept cool by the flats above/below when it's hot, and kept warm by the flats above/below when it's cold.

My office has a South facing window, but a blind solves most of that problem. I have a cheapo 12" desk fan that blows into my face if I get too warm (or I've just come in from a run). Like most fans the settings are never ideal, even 1 is too much air most of the time. Today was the first time I'd turned it on because I was a bit warm (and hadn't just come in from a run).

If it ever gets really warm then the 18" standing fan gets dragged out of the cupboard.

Personally I'd want to avoid AC as much as possible for environmental/cost reasons, but then that's easy to say when I haven't reached the point where I'm melting.

(Reminds me, still need to set up zigbee2mqtt to log the temps around the flat.)

Heat exchangers are more energy efficient per unit of heating / cooling than any other method - including rotary fans.

I have something similar. It's ok.

It's noisy, you'll need noise cancelling headphones and if you want calls a mic that doesn't pick up any background noise. It's also noisy enough to be noticeable downstairs/outside.

Rooms warm back up again fairly quickly if you don't keep it on.

If you don't have a sash window then getting something neat for the exhaust is a bit of a hassle.

It costs a lot to run. Probably a pound an hour or something now.

Edit: that reply was meant to be @Velocio

I had something similar in Spain. It worked good but was incredibly loud. I gave it away as I adjusted to the heat and that was just easier. Hugo captured it well.
Are you closing blinds to keep sun out?

Noisy. Difficult to set up as you need a good seal around the exhaust hose and window or whatever. But they work if you can set them up well.

seems to be doing its job well

to be fair the job's not that hard though is it

even 1 is too much air most of the time

htfu

As if us plebs can afford to motorise the moving of air.

#golfclub

It was 30C in my "office" yesterday. Unless the PC starts flashing heat warnings it's not hot enough.

Are you closing blinds to keep sun out?

Oh yeah, all blinds closed but the sash windows open behind them... and then fans on.

The day starts well, ambient temp right now is only 22'c indoors - but that's roughly what it is outside too (measures 23'c currently)... so really the problem is that I can't keep the indoor different from the outside temp on hot days. I can create a bit of comfort from the shade and moving air... but when it gets to 28'c outside it's probably 26'c inside... 32'c outside and probably 29-30'c inside.

This is the problem with lots of windows and skylights... way too much external heat comes in to this space.

My little office gets warm really quickly too - which is great in the Winter, not so much in the Summer.

you need Pilkington K glass.