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The secret's out—many thermostats just trick building occupants into feeling more comfortable and in control. Here's why they're so effective.

On Jan. 15, The Wall Street Journal revealed that the HVAC industry has an unconventional way of attending to the comfort needs of building occupants—using thermostats that aren't configured to have an effect on the HVAC system.

"Looking for an office thermostat that actually works? Good luck and Godspeed," wrote Jared Sandberg. "You may never find it…If you do spy a thermostat, it's probably locked, or encased behind shatterproof glass."

"Even worse, HVAC experts acknowledge what millions of office workers have suspected all along: A lot of office thermostats are completely fake—meant to dupe you into thinking you've altered the office weather conditions."

Some may say "dupe," but the purpose of installing nonfunctional thermostats is to keep building occupants feeling comfortable and in control, say many engineers, contractors and wholesalers in the HVACR industry. Still, some manufacturers do not approve of their intentional use—or non-use for that matter.

And even though these thermostats do not actually provide a direct interface to the mechanical system, by giving the illusion that they do, they act as a placebo in many cases.

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Originally posted by Nanuq:
Maybe, but if they're putting in fake thermostats to save money, you have to wonder how else they're cutting costs. I'd be leery about the smoke detectors and fire extinguishers in those buildings!

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Originally posted by Michelle:
I'd like someone to do an expose on the "close door" buttons in elevators and the pedestrian button at intersections. I think they're dummies too.

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OBSERVATION:
Whenever we walk to the bus stop and press the pedestrian button to change the light at the intersection, we notice that it takes a long time to change. It takes a long time to change when we don't press the button, too. It always changes eventually whether we press the button or not.

QUESTION:
Does the light change faster when you press the pedestrian button, or does it change in a similar amount of time?

HYPOTHESIS:
Based on past observations, our hypothesis is that the light will take the same amount of time to change, whether or not we press the pedestrian button.

METHOD:

Materials: Stopwatch with clock, paper, pencil

We will go to the intersection in question with the pedestrian button. First, we will time the lights four times without pressing the button. We will only time it when no other pedestrians have pressed the button. We will write the times down on the paper using our pencil.

Then we will time the lights four times having pressed the button. We will test the button on the east side of the street twice, and the button on the west side twice. Then we will try pressing the buttons on both sides at the same time. We will measure the time it takes for the light to change each time and write those times down.

ANALYSIS

CONCLUSION