When the cold weather hits, is your home ready? Getting your home prepared for freezing temperatures could help prevent large and expensive repairs from popping up. Ace’s Home Expert, Lou Manfredini, has his tips to make sure you are safe and warm this winter.
Winterization Tips
- Have your HVAC system inspected and cleaned. While this is a good fall item it’s never too late to make sure your system is running at peak efficiency and ready for the hard work of winter.
- Seal out any drafts that you are feeling. Lock all the windows, this will help seal them tight as a drum. Add weather stripping to windows and doors where you feel the air coming in. Caulk around windows, doors, and trim with clear caulking to all seal out the cold air.
- Run ceiling fans on low and in reverse, meaning not blowing down to circulate the warm air up high. This will help keep you more comfortable and lower your energy consumption for heating.
- If you have water pipes on the outside walls of your home on days and nights when the temps are below 20 degrees allow a small trickle on both the hot and cold-water lines to keep the pipes from freezing. Place a bucket under them to collect the water to either use for your pets or for watering the plants.
- Make sure you furnace filters are clean and change them once a month.
- Use space heaters in colder rooms instead of turning up the thermostat for the entire home. But never leave unattended, never plug into an extension cord and place at least 3 feet away from combustibles.
- Make sure you have working carbon monoxide and smoke detectors in your home.
For more helpful tips and advice, visit a Neighborhood Ace or visit online at Ace Hardware’s Tips & Advice
Published on 1/12/2022.
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