Field study on thermal environment and thermal comfort at rural houses in severe cold areas

In order to investigate indoor thermal environment and thermal comfort at rural houses, a field study was carried out at 10 rural houses in 2 villages near Harbin from December 2012 to January 2013. The environmental parameters and the subjects' thermal sensation were collected simultaneously. The results showed that the indoor air temperature ranged from 9.0 to 21.8 °C, with an average of 16.6 °C. The operative temperature varied within the range of 10.5-22.7 °C, averaging 18.1 °C. The average relative humidity was 40.4 %. The mean air velocity was 0.08 m/s. The mean surface temperature of Chinese Kang was 35.1 °C. The mean surface temperature of exterior window was 9.5 °C. The neutral operative temperature was 18.5 °C. The lower limit of the accepted operative temperature by 80 % of the peasants was 10.6 °C, much lower than the specified heating temperature for urban residential buildings, because the peasants wore more clothes than residents in the urban. The mean clothing insulation was 1.47clo. 92.5 % of the subjects felt the thermal environment acceptable, and 92.5 % of the subjects felt the humidity of the environment acceptable. Regulating the Kang and the separated heating equipments were the main measures taken by the occupants to improve the indoor environment.