ILiveInFlipFlops Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 If there even IS a solution. It might just be what it is. DD12 likes to sleep in the COLD. Last night the outside temps went below 40, and she slept under a comforter in a bra and underwear, with a fan pulling cold air into the room. Last winter she kept the window open for most of the nights. I moved her hamster to the schoolroom yesterday. The problem (outside of the obvious hamster discomfort) is that the open window adversely affects the temps of the rest of house. She'd be fine if we closed the window halfway through the night, but I usually pass out before that can happen, and DH goes to bed earlier than I do. Can anyone come up with an outside-the-box solution for this? Do I just need to set myself an alarm to stagger in there and remove the fan/close the window? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica_in_Switzerland Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 Maybe she just needs the cold to get to sleep? Can the window be opened 20 minutes before bed, then closed when she gets into bed? You could still keep the fan on for a bit to see if the noise of the fan is also related to her getting to sleep. Otherwise, maybe keep her door fully shut with one of those long skinny cushion things to block air from coming under the door as well? See if it's enough to just have the window cracked, and relocate her bed to directly under the cracked window. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skimomma Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 (edited) I would just keep the door to her room shut at night. I also have to have cold to sleep and will have my bedroom windows open at night. Luckily the lack of insulation in my bedroom makes it much colder than the rest of the house without opening a window during the dead of winter. But I do keep the door shut to save heat in the rest of the house. While the bedroom door is not insulated it does a good enough job of making a "zone." If the rest of the family can stand it, turn the overall heat down as much as possible overnight so there is not so much "delta" between her room and the rest of the house. That may also make it more comfortable for her sleeping so she might be willing to keep the windows closed as winter gets colder. Edited October 18, 2017 by skimomma 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skimomma Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 Also, this is going to sound counterintuitive, but perhaps consider a window fan with the small dual fans that can be separately set on intake and outtake. I set mine that way (before outside temps go below freezing) which seems to keep he cold airflow more localized to my room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klmama Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 Do you lower the thermostat at night? She shouldn't have to open her window. Her comforter is probably too warm. Give her a regular blanket instead, and close any heat registers in her room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ann.without.an.e Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 I love to sleep in the cold because I have a large fluffy blanket that I sleep best under. It is my ideal. In the summer, I have the thermostat set to make it cooler at night and I run a fan. I haven't found a winter solution. I don't leave any windows open though because I pay the heat bills, haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 Agreeing to the idea of putting a blocking runner at the bottom of her door and closing it. Spin off thread coming... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janeway Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 If it is adversely affecting the temp in the rest of the house, find the thermometer in her room (there must be one or it would not affect it) and disabled it or tape over it. Close her vents too. Only disabled it if you have another one in another room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachel Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 Get her a lighter blanket. A portable ac unit on a timer might help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 My husband and I keep the window open year round (western WA, so it can get down into the 20s, but is mostly in the mid to upper 30s at night in the winter). We keep the door to our room closed day and night. I'd have her keep her door closed day and night and if the cold air coming out from under the door is an issue, I'd put an towel or something there to block it. The only problem with this solution is that it may make her room not fun to be in during the day. This is fine for us because we don't hang out in our bedroom, but for a kid it may be an issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILiveInFlipFlops Posted October 18, 2017 Author Share Posted October 18, 2017 Thank you, everyone! Some great ideas here. well, I would make her just keep the window halfway closed. That's part of living in a house with other people IMO is that everyone makes compromises to keep everyone comfortable. But another solution might be to insulate her room better? Like maybe hang some thick curtains over her doorway to block out some of the cool air from the rest of the house (but still keeping the doorway clear to move through in an emergency.) This is a good idea. I'm thinking maybe I can get a short tension rod, hmmm... Maybe she just needs the cold to get to sleep? Can the window be opened 20 minutes before bed, then closed when she gets into bed? You could still keep the fan on for a bit to see if the noise of the fan is also related to her getting to sleep. Otherwise, maybe keep her door fully shut with one of those long skinny cushion things to block air from coming under the door as well? See if it's enough to just have the window cracked, and relocate her bed to directly under the cracked window. She does need the cold mainly to get to sleep, but if she gets too warm at night she's starts to wake and toss and turn, so we'll have to experiment with that a bit. It's a small room, so she's already right under the window. Her room lights do also warm the room up, so having the light on in the evening while getting ready for bed, reading, prepping for the next day etc. fights having the window open at that point of the day. As the days cool off here, though, that may work better. She argues about closing her window (well, about everything, really), so we'll have to battle it out over that :glare: I would just keep the door to her room shut at night. I also have to have cold to sleep and will have my bedroom windows open at night. Luckily the lack of insulation in my bedroom makes it much colder than the rest of the house without opening a window during the dead of winter. But I do keep the door shut to save heat in the rest of the house. While the bedroom door is not insulated it does a good enough job of making a "zone." If the rest of the family can stand it, turn the overall heat down as much as possible overnight so there is not so much "delta" between her room and the rest of the house. That may also make it more comfortable for her sleeping so she might be willing to keep the windows closed as winter gets colder. We already keep her door closed, but so much cold air comes around the door that it affects the main living area, for hours after sunrise. It's not a big house, and it's in shade until around 3:00, so there's not much warming it up. Right now it's almost 1:00 here, and it's still 66 in here. That will only get worse as the weather grows colder! Her room is actually already the coldest in the house, because there seems to be no insulation in and around her closet. It's also the warmest room all through the summer too, which is really annoying. Also, this is going to sound counterintuitive, but perhaps consider a window fan with the small dual fans that can be separately set on intake and outtake. I set mine that way (before outside temps go below freezing) which seems to keep he cold airflow more localized to my room. So you're saying you have one blowing in and one blowing out at the same time? That's exactly the kind of fan she has currently, and she argued with me when I tried to shut one fan off last night. Maybe she won't notice if I just set one blowing in the other direction! Do you lower the thermostat at night? She shouldn't have to open her window. Her comforter is probably too warm. Give her a regular blanket instead, and close any heat registers in her room. We don't really run the heat at night much at all, and it definitely wasn't on last night. She just wants it really cold. I'm not kidding when I say it can be in the 20s outside, and she still happily has her window open all night. She has multiple sheets/blankets to choose from and prefers the heavy comforter like Attolia below. She keeps it mostly kicked off until halfway through the night, and by morning she's bundled under it in a freezing cold room :lol: I love to sleep in the cold because I have a large fluffy blanket that I sleep best under. It is my ideal. In the summer, I have the thermostat set to make it cooler at night and I run a fan. I haven't found a winter solution. I don't leave any windows open though because I pay the heat bills, haha. Yeah, we had to cave and set the AC to 69-70 at night in the summer, and that really wasn't quiet enough for her, but she made do. My poor tropical husband didn't love it! If it is adversely affecting the temp in the rest of the house, find the thermometer in her room (there must be one or it would not affect it) and disabled it or tape over it. Close her vents too. Only disabled it if you have another one in another room. We can't. It's a small house, and the only thermostat is on the wall of the hallway, directly outside her room. Her vent doesn't close anymore, but it doesn't really make a whole lot of difference. My husband and I keep the window open year round (western WA, so it can get down into the 20s, but is mostly in the mid to upper 30s at night in the winter). We keep the door to our room closed day and night. I'd have her keep her door closed day and night and if the cold air coming out from under the door is an issue, I'd put an towel or something there to block it. The only problem with this solution is that it may make her room not fun to be in during the day. This is fine for us because we don't hang out in our bedroom, but for a kid it may be an issue. I did put a towel at the base of the door last night, but when I walked past her room this morning, I could still feel cold air pouring out around the edges. Plus, our walls seems to be paper thin, so the cold just gets through anyway. It was 63 in the main living area this morning, and it's only mid-October :( So far that temp has only risen 3 degrees in the past 6 hours. My feet and nose are freezing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxbridgeacademy Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 Couple thoughts LED bulbs are $2-$3 at walmart no more heating up the room from the light. Get her a sheet to go under the blanket, then if she gets hot she can toss off the blanket and keep the sheet. We've had the dual fans window thing for DS, it works great. I wonder if part of the problem is the HVAC system? You might have someone come out to service it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justasque Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 If it is adversely affecting the temp in the rest of the house, find the thermometer in her room (there must be one or it would not affect it) and disabled it or tape over it. Close her vents too. Only disabled it if you have another one in another room. Just to be clear - there doesn't have to be thermometer in her room for the cold room to affect the heat in the rest of the house. If you have one (unheated) room in your house that is, say, 40 degrees, and the rest of the house is at 60, and you have the house-wide thermostat set at 60 (regardless of where the thermostat is), your heater will turn itself on and off as needed to keep the house (or at least the area surrounding the thermostat) at 60 degrees. Meanwhile, heat from the main house is escaping - flowing towards the cold room in an attempt to even out the temperature of both. That's how heat works. So even if the house stays at 60 when the bedroom is 40, (because the heater is working really hard to make that happen), the heat bill is going up compared to what it would be if her room wasn't super-cold. So to minimize the heating bill, you need to minimize the heat loss. If the room has excellent insulation, the heat from the house can't flow into the cold bedroom. So you can insulate the room to minimize heat loss through the walls and doors that the cold room shares with the heated part of the home. You can even insulate the ceiling and floor (rugs will help). And you can use a magnetic sheet to block off any unused vents in the cold room that may be a source of air flow - places like Home Depot and Lowes sell these very inexpensively. And of course closing the window as much as possible helps keep the room warmer, so there is less heat loss. (Other posters have given good advice to the OP; I just wanted to clear up (hopefully) how the whole heat loss thing works.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skimomma Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 So you're saying you have one blowing in and one blowing out at the same time? That's exactly the kind of fan she has currently, and she argued with me when I tried to shut one fan off last night. Maybe she won't notice if I just set one blowing in the other direction! Yep, that is what I am saying. With the additional details it may not help much but at least some of cold air is going back out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 What about losing the comforter? It would be cooler with just a top sheet. If it is the weight she needs, maybe a weighted blanket of some kind? I'm thinking about something similar for myself in the summer. I like a heavy blanket, I like it cold to sleep, and the two are just plain incompatible most of the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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