Why does literally every house have radiators?

[SammyLiimex]

I have never once seen a radiator in real life in any house or apartment I have been in, but in this game its the only option and pretty much every room in every house has one. It really breaks the immersion when I have to install things in every room that do not make a lot of sense. Especially things like towel radiators.

Why is the only AC option a small thing? Wheres the normal central Heat/AC and window units?

[71006.1644]

Washing machines in bathrooms? That's crazy talk! (Ducks behind riot shield)

[MarkedBubbles]

Canada and all my rooms have radiators. They're a godsend.

[Zhenya Yedinarozhka]

Originally posted by Metallos:

Originally posted by 71006.1644:

My guess is because the devs aren't American. Most American homes are new enough that they have central heat and air. Most European homes are old enough that they were designed to be steam heated, hence all the radiators.

Hot water, not steam.
And yes, our (European) houses are old enough because we usually don't build houses made of "paperboard" and they survive even a T3 tornado (ok, windows and roof have to repaired), US "paperboard" houses are completely blown away in comparision. ;-)
Ok, houses made of brick / stones (solid build) are more expensive than "paperboard" houses.

And where I live (not the house where I live, that's from 1947 with brick walls and isolated at outside, and of course with those hot water radiators, before that there were ovens in the rooms) are many houses (half-timbered / "Fachwerk" (even the English Wiki has "Fachwerk" as term...) from 19th century or earlier.

Yes, haha. We are always wondering how they can live in those ''Paperboxes**

[NotAGamer1987]

I remove them all.

[Sly Element]

Belgium and holland... every room has em ;)

[Thirty1Mortis]

The radiators and large collection of IKEA furniture options was a dead giveaway. I'm more annoyed about the lack of door frames and half walls. I would like to separate a room but keep them open, like a family room and the kitchen. Also, closet space and doors. Mods and item updates should be a thing, including a creative function to make our own houses and upload/download them for jobs and flipping.

[IHY666]

Originally posted by NotAGamer1987:

I remove them all.

This is the best option as it doesn't affect anything such as sales of the house, etc.

[bansama]

One thing I miss about not living in the UK anymore is the radiators. So much better than the air conditioner / gas stove heating used in Japan. Japanese houses are freezing in the winter.

That said, the annoyance I have with radiators in this game is that you cannot move them. Such as say with the "Aunt's house". I want to move the existing radiator to a different wall so the new decor makes sense, but it won't let me sell the existing radiator even if I install a new one first. That's just silly =/

[71006.1644]

Been awhile. Is that a mission house? If it is, it won't let you sell off any part that is NOT part of the mission. Houses for flipping don't have that restriction. You can just sell the mounting and place a new mounting wherever you want.

[DeadPoolX]

I imagine the eastern side of the US and Canada has more buildings with radiators, given that those states and provinces are older.

I've seen electric (plug into the wall) radiators that're portable, but never the kind you might see in some places like New York or in Europe.

The house I grew up in (originally from Houston, TX) had central air, so we had AC and heat throughout the house without any radiators. For the past 11 years or so I've lived in Canada (on Vancouver Island, which is NOT the same thing as the city of Vancouver) and see baseboard heating everywhere in condos and apartments. Central air is pretty unusual here.

As for the washing machine in the kitchen... never saw that until I started watching House Hunters International. Apparently that's fairly common in Europe, which makes sense given that the plumbing is all there.

[Metallos]

Also in Canada or USA where electricity is much cheaper than in Europe electric heatings are more common (for example the baseboard heatings). In Europe it's cheaper to burn the oil or natural gas in a central heating and run the hot water (in a circle, of course) to the radiators in the rooms. In bigger cities you have mostly district heating, the waste heat of a powerplant is used for heating.

In the 60's, where electricity was cheap for example in Germany (boom of nuclear power plants), storage heaters were often build into the houses because the powerplants needed a base load and the electricity was much cheaper in night time.


About washing machines (in Germany): In the bathroom is common in most flats, if the bathroom is too small then you have it in the kitchen. Also in some houses (with multiple flats) you may have a "washing cellar" where the machines and (or only) dry lines are or in bigger flats (or own houses) you may have a separate "washing room" where you put the washing machine (and possible dryer).

[Smoke79]

we had central heat/AC in the home I grew up in the mid 70's (the home was built in the 40's had skeleton key locks through out the home) in the US, but the home next door to us had radiators that used "coal oil" my Father got a shoe box full of skeleton keys from his job, and we had a lot of fun testing the keys, and actually found a few that worked!

[ToxicCandyCloud]

I live in an apartment in the UK (England), everywhere here has one radiator in each room (larger ones for bigger rooms) and the towel radiators act like normal radiators with a purpose. It may seem silly to you but for a country that can reach -10 in the winter I'm glad they exist haha

[morph113]

I didn't even know there is an alternative to radiators. What's the other option, what do people in the US have? I saw people mentioning central heating. When I google up central heating it works via radiators as well which apparently every room needs. If people in the US have no radiators, how else are you going to warm a room or is the heating done from behind the walls or underneath the floor?

I just can't imagine how else heating would work (other than old methods like a fireplace or heating an oven via firewood.

[DeadPoolX]

Originally posted by morph113:

I didn't even know there is an alternative to radiators. What's the other option, what do people in the US have? I saw people mentioning central heating. When I google up central heating it works via radiators as well which apparently every room needs. If people in the US have no radiators, how else are you going to warm a room or is the heating done from behind the walls or underneath the floor?

I just can't imagine how else heating would work (other than old methods like a fireplace or heating an oven via firewood.

Here's a decent, easy-to-understand description of HVAC systems commonly used in North America.

https://www.hunker.com/12174375/how-does-a-hvac-system-work

https://www.hunker.com/12350017/forced-air-vs-central-air