Your thermostat says 72. Your feet disagree.

Your thermostat has been sitting at 72 for weeks, so why does the house suddenly feel chilly?

Sometimes it’s just Milwaukee in November, and sometimes it’s your furnace trying to tell you something. Here’s how to tell the difference.

Start with the easy stuff

Check your furnace filter first. When a filter gets clogged, less warm air makes it through the vents, so the furnace runs longer and the house still feels cool. It’s a quick swap, and a lot of the time it fixes the problem on its own!

Then look at where your thermostat is. The sun sits lower this time of year and reaches farther into the house in the afternoon, so a thermostat that never got sun in the summer might be getting it now. A lamp or TV right below it does the same thing. Either way, the thermostat reads warmer than the rest of the room and shuts the heat off early.

The reasons that aren’t a problem at all

Your body gives off heat to whatever is around it, and once it’s below freezing outside, your windows and exterior walls are a lot colder than they were in October. So even with the air at 72, you’re losing more heat to those cold surfaces. (That’s why the spot by the window always feels drafty!)

Dry air plays a part too. Winter air holds very little moisture, and running the furnace dries it out even more. Moisture evaporates off your skin faster in dry air, which cools you off. A whole-home humidifier brings indoor humidity back up to a comfortable level, usually somewhere between 30 and 50 percent, and a little lower on the coldest nights so the windows don’t frost over.

The reasons that ARE worth a call

If the filter’s fresh and the thermostat’s in a good spot, but the furnace runs nearly nonstop and the house still won’t warm up, something is off. Same goes for air from the vents that feels lukewarm. That’s when it’s time to have us take a look at your furnace, and getting it checked early usually means a smaller repair.

Also! If your furnace hasn’t had its yearly Beyondification tune-up yet, it’s a great way to catch worn parts and airflow problems before they turn into a no-heat call.

So…feeling chilly at 72? Give us a call at 262-220-7020 and we’ll get to the bottom of it.