/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Would it kill you to import one instead?

Holey Shit

I Fuck'in Love

Minami-ke

frankly I never really understood the appeal. Having your legs too hot and your chest too cold never seemed like a great idea to me.

>>3434911
leave the man alone. Projects are good for you.

I would actually be interested in doing this too if someone has a good way of making one. Sounds fun and useful.

>>3434920

Well, don't we lose most of our body heat through our feet and our head?

http://ask.metafilter.com/31368/making-a-kotatsu

google turned it up quite fast, hopefully it's similar to what you wanted.

>>3434911

Costs less this way. I'm cheap.

you can use a metal-walled heater, but make sure you put a wooden grill or something around it to prevent aforementioned burning.

Other thing to keep in mind is to make sure that it's big enough -- make sure you can fit your legs under without ramming your knees against the heater.

>>3434920
There's a huge amount of blood flow through your legs. Warming them up tends to warm the entire body. At least, that's been my experience with electric blankets.

Is using a flame-based heater such a good idea if it's going be enclosed under a table and blanket? Sounds like a recipe for carbon monoxide poisoning to me.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4612196_japanese-kotatsu.html

1. Get table
2. Get blanket
3. Put blanket over table
4. Put gasoline soaked wood underneath table
5. Light match
6. ???
7. Profit

>>3434934
Old wives' tale.

>>3434945
If I was going to make one it would absolutely be electric. no way in hell I want to mess around with fuel.

>>3434951
>two weeks without power in January ice storm whee

OP seems to be going the fuel-based route.

>>3434942
I see. Good luck then.

>>3434950
No it's true. We, like all mammals, lose the majority of our body heat through our hands, feet, and heads. It's a physiological mechanism left over from when our primate ancestors used to actually have full body hair. See, if you need to lose heat it doesn't help you very much if you're releasing almost all of it underneath a thick layer of fur. Thus, mammals evolved to release the vast majority of their heat through the parts of their bodies with the least hair (those parts being the palms of hands, the soles of feet, and the face).

/biology lecture

>>3434952

We have a generator in the backyard, but it's only enough to power a refrigerator and one or two other things. No, the idea of a fuel heater freaks me out to be honest.

>>3434952
yeah I guess I fail at reading comprehension.

OP I'm not sure if you can make one that burns. Burning requires regular air flow (unless you're using something which will incinerate your house) and the whole point of a kotatsu is to trap the warm air under the table.

>>3434965
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/dec/17/medicalresearch-humanbehaviour

Heat loss (in mammals) is usually done through some form of evaporative cooling or the dilation of blood vessels in very thin external organs. Humans sweat, dogs pant, elephants have big floppy ears, etc. Hands, feet, and the head may have above-average heat dissipation abilities due to surface area to volume ratios, high number of blood vessels, etc., but are still very comparable to the rest of the body.

>>3434999
As an addendum:

The article mentioned a 10% loss of heat through the head. According to the rule of nines, the head is about 9% of the body's surface area. So yeah.

Personally I get cold first in the feet, knees and hands - the most exposed ares on the body with a high surface per mass ratio. The knees and hands are especially tricky to warm up (knees if you have big knee caps). Hands because you always use them, so it's hard to keep them warm when they first get cold. Knees are just awkward to heat, putting a blanket on your lap may help, but that's a slow process.

Kotatsu may be a good idea for some, but honestly it's more of a cultural thing than a functional one. I'd hate to sit on the floor without anything ideal to lean my back on.

Why would you need one of these?
Do you have friends you want to chit chat with?
>fuck you normal
Do you have family?
>normal
Do you expose your powerlevels?
>yes, fuck you

fuck you for even wanting one of these. unless you and your weeaboo fat girlfriend want one, but with all the blubber i doubt your that cold in winter anyways

ya, I'd shy away from fuel. About the only way I could see you doing safely is placing a propane heater OUTSIDE the kotatsu and using piping to run under the table, and eventually vent the exhaust out the other side somewhere. You do not want the carbon monoxide to be trapped under the blanket, so you just want the exhaust pipe to radiate heat and dump the fumes elsewhere.

>>3434904
That storm sucked, did you get knocked out by the windstorm as well? At least it wasn't cold then. Our house has been a full 1/12 of a year without power in the last year, lol.

>>3435138
I send happy sparks in your direction. You are now happy, and wish for everyone else to be happy.

Lots of retards have killed themselves with carbon monoxide during power outages.

One of two things will happen

1.) Your house will burn down
2.) You'll be fined to death for breaking building code.

easy modo:
1. Build or buy low table
2. Throw quilt over it
3. Put an electric space heater in there
4. Enjoy kicking the space heater every time you move your legs
5. ?????
6. PROFIT!

DIY projects are great and all, but if you want to stay warm without power: buy warmer clothing and get yourself a cold weather sleeping bag.