So... The landlady said its normal
All radiators work fine, she just checked

But I am freezing !

Where in or around zurich do I find a store with heaters/radiators?

Thanks in advance for your advice !
Dor

if the radiators were just turned on - wait for a day or two and see what happens. in the meanwhile hug your wife instead of sitting near the computer in the middle of the night!

She checked where? In your place or other apartments in the building? If so, and as you say they are not warm then call the "Verwaltung" so they can send someone to fix it. We just had a similar issue although ours is floor heating. Hope all goes well.

Step 1: get a thermometer. What feels 'cold' may not actually be that cold...

Step 2: buy some warm pyjamas

Step 3: be glad your little old swiss neighbour living in a 5 room apartment all by herself, leaving the windows open because she is a chain smoker, with the heating on full, is not contributing to your heating costs...



The 'optimal' room temperature should be about 20 degrees for sleeping and 22 for daytime. You should not feel 'warm' but you should be comfortable with one or two layers of clothing...

On the other hand, do you know how to adjust your heating ? There are little dials in the wall, or on each heater - do you have underfloor or wall heating ?

PS. you can buy a room thermometer for a few francs from the hardware section of Migros supermarket - we have them in every room at my workplace to help educate the staff...soon as it goes below 22 people start to complain it is 'cold' and soon as it goes over 24 they are 'hot'...

Have you checked what actual temperature it is in the apartment? If your living area can't get above 20 degrees (centigrade) it's not working properly. It's better to give details of the temp, instead of saying you find it cold. If the landlady continues being unhelpful, get the Mieterverband involved.

Quick explanation:

The landlord is very nice, and she tried to help so she checked my apartment and said the radiator works ok
My goal is to learn where to buy my own heaters (Migros/coop? any suggestions much appreciated)


About thermometer - good idea - I am usually very durable to cold so from my experience if I feel cold most people would also say it's cold
I'll buy one of those at migros and tell you if I was right

Thanks everyone for responding and I am really happy to have found this forum
Dor

I'd check Fust, they probably have some space heaters.

You can buy radiatiors in many DIY or electrical stores (COOP Bau & Hobby, Obi, Füst etc). However, if you're not usually feeling cold when others think the temperature is ok, before spending money on buying radiators and paying higher electricity costs, I would first check if the temperature in the rooms is acceptable.

Here's a link to the Mieterverband where people have got their rent reduced becuase of lower temperatures in their apartments.
http://www.mieterverband.ch/fileadmi...entscheide.pdf

Please don't just accept the landlady saying that everything works. Many Swiss like room temperatures in the mid-20's, so if your's can't get that high (even if you don't want it that high), something is wrong...

...but if you buy extra heating devices be prepared for nasty shocks when you get your electricity bill.

Especially if a flat has been empty for a while, it is not just the air which is cold, but the substance of the building and this takes a while to warm up. If I were you, I'd also, besides checking the temperature, check if there are draughts or special spaces where it is cooler. We once had one room which was very cool and discovered that the guy in the work-room below had that room unheated and the window open in the middle of winter because he was drying out wood in there. Once he had closed the window, the problem in our flat resolved itself in a very short time.

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Longbyt

Have you considered investing in a hot water bottle? We have a couple and it's a) cheaper and b) much better for the environment than an electric heater. Wear a top, then the hot water bottle, then a big jumper on top.