Winter Wonderland

Pro Tips For The Season

Right around the time I put my winter tires on I also think about  getting ready for winter. 

  Proper winterizing of our homes can safe guard against unexpected surprises as temperatures start to dip. Call outs for  burst hosebibs, frozen waterlines and furnace lighting begin to trickle in. Looking after a few simple things around the house can make the transitions into winter roll a little more smoothly. In this month's blog were going to talk about these three topics.As usual the name of the game is saving ourselves unnecessary costs and potential problems by following these simple steps. 

Hose Bibs

Disconnecting hoses and isolating exterior faucets is a must on the fall to do list. Locate your exterior hose bib, and disconnect your hose. Inside your house, close to the location of the faucet there is likely an isolation valve. It's important to locate the valve and turn it off, and then open the faucet and let the residual water out. 

If there's an irrigation system, this is the time to turn it off, isolate and blow it out. 

Your irrigation system likely has a cross connection device. Be sure to locate and isolate and drain your system downstream of the device. These devices can be located off of the main supply to the house. Here in Victoria they're typically in the yard.  In colder climates or some applications, they'll be inside and/ or they may have a heat trace. 

Heat Tracing

If you have any water piping subject to exposure to the cold, it will likely have or need heat tracing. Mobile homes, shallow water lines, an unheated pump house and exterior tankless water heaters are a few examples of items likely to need or have heat tracing lines. 

When winter is around the corner, make sure to turn the breakers back on, and that the heat trace is plugged in and working. Turning the line on- it may have a light to indicated it's on. You should feel the heat in a few minutes.

Wiring is subject to wear from rodents so its good to check it for damages before the cold weather sets in! 

Furnace Lighting

Finally, heating- yes this the time of year where we fire up our gas appliances. Fire places, furnaces, heat pumps or in floor heating to name a few. 

Make sure your heating appliances are in proper condition, by cleaning and changing the filters -as per the manufacture specifications. This will ensure that the appliance runs optimally in between maintence schedules.

It's also a good idea to change the batteries in the smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors at the same time, when completing filter maintence. 

As always, be sure to read and follow all manufacture specifications.  If any of the items raise any questions, or concerns, or - are out of your scope of comfort- contact a professional.

Remember, frozen water lines may not always burst- but emergency call outs can happen at the worst possible time, like with a house full of company.  Better to safe guard against the unexpected. 

May you have warm and wonderful winter season!