Snow Day!
Fun!, Plumbing, Tech Tips, Service, Maintenance, Installation, Plumbing, Heat Pumps, Heat, Service, Maintenance,
As a kid snow days were the best ever! A day off school to have fun sledding, building snowmen, and making snow angels. Then inside to warm up with hot cocoa. However, as a homeowner snow days aren’t always carefree as when we were kids. And to make sure there is a nice warm and toasty house for the kids to come inside to, we have a couple tips for you.
Comfort System Tips
- Keep your furnace vent free of ice and snow – Many manufactures design their furnaces to shut off automatically when the vent becomes blocked. If your gas furnace doesn’t have good ventilation, carbon monoxide can build up in your home. So for your own safety they have designed these units to shut down. A partially blocked vent might allow your furnace to keep heating, but it does reduce your comfort system’s efficiency. So keep your furnace running at peak efficiency by keeping your furnace vent clear.
- Properly clearing the ice and snow – When cleaning snow take extra care to not damage your vent pipe. It is best to clear by hand or lightly brushing the snow away. It is best not to use a shovel or snow blower to clear your vents, as you may cause damage to the vent pipe.
- Heat Pump Comfort Systems – Snow and Ice can accumulate on the blades. This will cause the heat pump to not operate properly. Avoid causing damage and loss of heat by switching to axillary or emergency heat from your thermostat.
- Routine maintenance – One of the best ways to keep your comfort system operating properly is routine maintenance. Just like you change the oil in your car – your comfort system operates more efficiently with less break downs when properly maintained. It is not too late in the season to still get your furnace checked and cleaned.
Snow Day – Plumbing Edition!
Snow days usually bring colder temperatures to the area. We have a few plumbing tips to keep your water flowing to where it needs to be going.
- Don’t set your thermostat too low when away, you can risk frozen pipes.
- When the temperature gets low, you can let a small drip from your faucet to keep the water from freezing in the pipes. This is especially helpful if your plumbing is on an outside wall in your home.
- Open cabinet doors to allow warm air to circulate around your plumbing pipes.
- Insulation on outside walls and attic can help keep the plumbing above freezing.
- Unhook outdoor hoses from wall hydrants & yard hydrants
- Keep garage doors & crawl space accesses closed. This helps keep the plumbing inside warmer and avoid freezing pipes. Some home have plumbing pipes in the garage and we see these freeze in the winter.
- Know where your main valve is located in your home – just in case you do have frozen pipes. It can help prevent water damage upon thawing.
