I feel like a crazy person saying this but: one particular door handle in an office building I go to once peer week always feels warmer than ambient.
It’s the handle inside the stairwell on the main floor. It feels warmer than ambient, with either hand, if I was just using the handrail or not. There’s no sunlight shining on it. I use the handle on my way out of the building a few minutes after I pass by it on the way in, so I know there’s nobody standing there holding it for several minutes just before I use it. It feels warm if I check it on my way into the building as well.
The handle on the lobby side of the door seems normal. The handle upstairs seems normal. The door feels normal. The strike plate in the doorframe feels normal.
It’s super weird. Could the motion detector mounted above the door be bathing it in IR light or something?
I’m going to see if I can find my IR thermometer to quantify my subjective observation. Are there any other potential sources of energy I haven’t thought of? Anything that could be messing with my perceptions? anything in particular I should remember when going to collect some data?
Are you sure it’s not the same temperature as the handle on the inside, and the stairwell is just colder? The handle on the office side could be transferring heat to the one in the stairwell.
If this was the case wouldn’t the other door handles in the stairwell also feel warm? I don’t think it’s a bad theory, but if the others don’t feel warm that’s more confusing
That part of the building could possibly just be warmer in general. Might not be super noticeable when inside, but it doesn’t take much to stand out when in a hallway with cold hands.
I agree it feels like a bit of a reach, but it’s the best hypothesis I can come up with.
I’ve considered that, but can’t rule it out yet. I can feel the warmth when I stand in the lobby and haven’t been in the stairwell yet, (closing the door behind me style) but I’m not sure that I’ve actually held both simultaneously.
But yeah perception is really slippery so I’ll use the thermometer. I’ll use some masking tape since I know they have trouble reading metals.