Your Child Keeps Waking Up In The Night: Is Your Furnace To Blame?
Just about every night, your child wakes up crying and complaining that they can't get to sleep. You are getting fed up having to wake up with them but aren't sure what could be bothering them. There is a good chance that they are too hot at night due to a short-cycling furnace.
How Heat Keeps Your Child Up
Experts state that most people fall asleep most easily at about 67-70 degrees Fahrenheit. Below or above that level is too uncomfortable and may wake a person up at night. However, heat is probably more to blame because it is harder to manage than cold.
For example, your child may sleep under one or two blankets and sweat out the night due to heavy heat pumping from your furnace. Which is a situation you don't understand: you've set the furnace to 67-70 and its pumping out hot air well past that point. What is going on here?
Frequent Cycling May Be Causing High Home Temperatures
Short or frequent cycling is one of the most common problems that affects a furnace. It occurs when your furnace thinks it needs to run more often than necessary. As a result, it will turn on and off repeatedly throughout the day and make your house warmer than necessary.
This problem is more likely to occur at night because of lower outdoor temperatures. And when it does, your child is likely to be more affected by the heat than you, which is why they are struggling to sleep. Thankfully, there are a few things you can do to manage a short-cycling furnace.
Fixing This Problem
If you believe that your furnace is short cycling, there are several steps you can take. First, place a small temperature-monitoring item in your child's room at night. The temperature should be around 67-70 Fahrenheit to promote good sleep. If you find that it is well above that – and your furnace thermostat is set to 67-70 degrees – you should perform a few simple maintenance steps.
Furnace repair experts suggest checking the air filter to see if it is dirty or clogged or replacing your thermostat's batteries to see if they are malfunctioning. In a surprisingly large number of cases, these steps should eliminate your short cycling issues. However, there may be other problems – such as poorly-sealed windows or furnace malfunctioning – that you can't repair on your own.
So don't hesitate to contact a furnace service specialist if your unit is short cycling. In many cases, they'll perform basic maintenance steps for you after doing a free inspection. And if more serious repairs need to be taken, they will ensure that they are done quickly and at a fair and reasonable price for you.
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