this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2026
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Mildly Interesting

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[–] infeeeee@lemmy.zip 32 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 children)

It's annoying that they used a stupid ai generated diagram for how the bed works which is simply WRONG.

The illustration from the article:

click to see ai slop

The duct under the bed doesn't go anywhere, it's not connected to the chimney either.

With a quick 2 second search I could find very basic but clear diagrams which shows how actually this bed works, the search term was "kang bed diagram":

Another drawing:

People forgot how to think and search? Or the author doesn't know how these beds work?

Now, as a researcher in architecture and construction at a British university

I assume the author is a trained architect he should know how to draw, and recreating a diagram like this in a CAD program is like a couple of minutes work, if he can't use other people's work for some reason.

[–] papalonian@lemmy.world 8 points 2 months ago

No no, it's very common to have ducts to nowhere and a tiny table on top of your bed.

[–] XeroxCool@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago

The diagram is accurate because the last arrow turns around. Duh

[–] Nomad@infosec.pub 2 points 2 months ago

I'm Germany this is known as an Ofenbank.

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

We've had similiar to this Kang, the Kachelofen, but they grew out of fashion in the last century.

Kachelofen

[–] Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 2 months ago

Would have expected the article to refer to that, as the concept is quite similar.

Instead it mentioned Roman hypocausts as an example, which in reality are actually considered one of the first types of central heating, so somewhat the opposite of what they were trying to get at in the article...

[–] Quilotoa@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 months ago (2 children)

It's mildly interesting, but mostly about the way they heat beds.

[–] Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 2 months ago

Modern, probably even more sustainable equivalent, would be heated seats and heating blankets.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago

Yeah, but that's relatively common in China.

It's not like it's a unique thing this city and only this city does.

[–] MagnificentSteiner@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yakutsk is the world's coldest city.

[–] Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I am pretty sure they have central heating, though.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Whether or not a building has central heating depends on the building, not the city.

But when the "secret" is beds built on top of a fire, it's hard to get more centralized than literally sleeping over a fire...

[–] Sturgist@lemmy.ca 14 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Sorry for being pedantic, buuut.....

But when the "secret" is beds built on top of a fire, it's hard to get more centralized than literally sleeping over a fire...

This is the opposite of centralised heating, this is localised heating. Centralised heating would be the fire in the basement and a fan blowing the hot air into every room....you know....like centralised heating....

[–] Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Communal heating is the defacto standard throughout most of Russia.
And, as a person also living in a city district with communal heating, I can assure you that the typical (or even mandatory) type of heating does indeed very often depend on which city it is in.

But perhaps you are confused about the terminology: heating beds or rooms directly with the combustibles is the opposite of central heating...

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world -1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Centralized heating just means a single source of heat, heats the entire building...

You know how old timey houses have 27 chimneys? That's non centralized heating.

A 2 room dwelling that has a single source of heat is still centralized heating even if relies on natural air flow to heat the second room.

Which is why I said sleeping on a furnace is the most direct (in distance at least) use of centralized heating

[–] SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Central heat requires a mechanical means to move the heat.

Having a single wood stove heater is NOT central heating.

[–] Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works 0 points 2 months ago

Dude, just give up.

[–] SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Municipality enforces building codes…

If building codes require central heating, the building can’t just decide not to have it.

[–] peopleproblems@lemmy.world -1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Uhm. -30C is only about -22F.

[–] infeeeee@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Celsius and Fahrenheit scales intersect at -40, as -40 °F equals to -40 °C

-30 and -22 are relatively close to that, closer than most temperatures people use in everyday life, hence the smaller than expected difference.

[–] peopleproblems@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

I'm referring to the title. I don't think in metric so I had to do the math to see what it was in freedom units.

Harbin is NOT the world's coldest city. Actually, I can pull up historical weather data and tell you that in January, Harbin is the 7th coldest average with an average of -3F.

The first two are in Russia, and the third is in Canada.

-22F is frigid, but we used to get that pretty frequently in the past. I think in 2019 Minneapolis had -27F. I saw -23F last week.

International Falls, MN has a record of -55F, Snag, Yukon has a record of -81F, and Oymyakon, Russia has a record of -91F (1924, more recently in 2018 it was -88F).