On 23/01/2012 08:35 PM, andrel wrote:

> I think the rule of thumb is that a person is about 100W.

That sounds like quite a lot...

...until you realise that 100W of heat is actually a very small amount. 
It takes 3.6 kW just to boil a small puddle of water inside an enclosed 
space (i.e., my kettle), and it takes several minutes to do that.

> but any amount
> of power will heat any room even if only slighly unless:
>
> a) the room is infinite in size
> b) the room was warmer than a person to begin with (i.e. warmer than a
> person that is not cooled by outside temperatures)

You forgot "unless the heat escapes the room faster than the heat source 
adds it". I've certainly seen houses so poorly insulated that short of a 
lava pit, the rooms are doomed to be at thermal equilibrium with the 
outside world.

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