Heating the Room

Dearest Rachel –

I mentioned the other day the difficulties I’d been having with the wall-mounted space heater, and that I had acquired a small, portable model for where I sit and watch television (and do some computer work – the watching distracts me, though, as I’m sure you could relate, so not much actually gets done). But given the size of our bedroom, that little unit, as much as it valiantly tries to heat the room up, is no match for the entire space. So I got the room a second unit, which I set by the old rocker that Daniel will occasionally use when he’s not watching stuff with Logan.

What’s embarrassing is that there are a few things about this new unit that took me a bit to figure out as well. The original heater was virtually plug-and-play; find an otherwise unoccupied socket (can’t use a power strip or extension cord, or even a plate that had something else plugged into it; I’ll explain this in more detail shortly), plug it in, switch it on with the remote, and you’re good to go. This wasn’t the case with this new model, and for a good half hour, I was starting to think that the wall sockets on your side of the bedroom no longer worked (which would, in its own way, explain the problem with the wall-mounted heater. But then, the thing ran just fine – if a little too constantly – last year, so…). It was only when I moved it around that I realized that there was a switch in the back of it that I needed to turn on to get it to run. Once that was flipped, everything fell into place.

All’s well that ends well, right? Not so fast. I now had two heaters going, more or less at full blast, in the same room. A big room, to be sure – which is why it needed both of them, frankly – but one room, on one circuit. This, as it happens, is important.

Look I honestly don’t know how much energy any given item uses when it’s plugged in. I’ve been informed that, when I’m running an AI application on either of my computers that are designed to do so, it chews up a lot of power, but I really wouldn’t know what the difference is from one appliance to another. Sure, our electric bill has gone up over the past couple of years, but so has everybody else’s; I don’t know what’s due to inflation, and what’s due to additional use.

What I do know is, after a few moments of having them both running in the same room, they both winked out. Not only that, but so did the alarm clocks, as well as the light attached to the ceiling fan. Basically, having them on the same circuit will blow a fuse – which is why they specify not to have them plugged into an outlet with anything else attached, as this is the result you’ll get.

Well. This isn’t good. For starters, I can’t fully heat the room; either one I decide to have run will try its best, but most of the room will still be way too cold. I can prove this; last night, I kept the new one on, hoping it would do the job on its own, and when I woke up, it was displaying an ambient temperature of 56°F – and it felt like that, too. From a consumer’s perspective, too, I also seem to have wasted money on a unit I can’t use.

Unless…

There’s a plug in the laundry room, just beyond the sink. The cords on these heaters aren’t the longest, to be sure, but maybe that could stretch to the bedroom door in the laundry room, so one heater can run on that room’s circuit, while the other continues to tap into the bedroom circuit. That way, they can both be running, and keep the room warm like it’s supposed to be.

So I think I’ve solved the heating problem in the bedroom for the time being. Sure, it would be preferable to have you (or Megumi) with me so we could keep each other warm, but in the absence of such options, one has to make do with mechanical means. Additionally, I can turn the levels of heat up and down, so the room doesn’t get too toasty; it ought to be a little chilly, just to get me acclimatized to the fact that I ought to get outside and get down to the gym first thing in the morning. And if, by evening, I need it a little warmer, I can adjust it in that direction as well.

Of course, if you were here, you’ve probably consider all of this a little silly, even as you might wander over to the wall heater, fiddle with it for a bit, and suddenly have it roar to life. I don’t know what you used to do or how you did it; I can’t figure it out, even with the instructions allegedly fasted to a pull chain attached to it (and yes, I’d pulled it, as well as pushing on the pilot switch. Nothing). So this is what I’m left with, and how I’ve decided to deal with it. Laugh all you want, but at least it’s comfortable even as it dives below freezing outside (and you can hear the wind to prove it).

Anyway, that’s all I have for now, honey. Until next I write you, keep an eye on me, and wish me luck. I’m going to need it.