WINTERIZE YOUR HOME
Feature Story
With winter’s icy touch descending upon the Albuquerque metro area this week, it is good time to go over some tips to avoid costly issues through the cold season.
While the first week of November may be a bit later than what Oni Miller of TLC Plumbing & Utility would recommend, if things haven’t been done, it is definitely time to get on it.
“Historically for us, October is the month to start,” said Miller, the department manager for heating, ventilation and air conditioning. “Good triggers that we tell our customers is that when people start roasting chiles or when the Balloon Fiesta hits. It is a good time to start time to start thinking about winterization.”
It’s true that, especially in Albuquerque, hot days may still visit well into October, but it’s better to be prepared, he said.
“We try to preach to our customers and the general public that’s it’s better to be early than late,” Miller said. “The reason we say that is because it’s better to be a little uncomfortable if we have late season warm up, but it is far less expensive to be uncomfortable than to have water line freeze and break.”
A big thing to address immediately is evaporative coolers.
“One of the major things are the swamp coolers, because that’s a big thing, since Albuquerque and New Mexico are among the few areas that has a climate acceptable for a swamp cooler, because of that dry heat,” Miller said. “But anytime you have running water in a pipe attached to the roof, you run that risk of (the pipe) freezing if it doesn’t get shut down soon enough.”
Likewise, that’s a good time to get the furnace up and running, he added.
“For people that have refrigerated air or a forced-air heater, get the heater checked out to make sure it’s safe,” Miller said. “Have a professional come out and test for carbon monoxide and make sure that everything is tuned up and working properly.”
If that’s not an option, get a carbon monoxide detector at a big box retailer that can be installed near the furnace or heat source.
“You can’t smell it or taste it,” Miller said of the deadly gas. “We call it the silent killer for a reason. We use a metering device that we have calibrated every six months to a year so it’s more accurate. We go through not only the furnace, but also check all appliances because some people have older appliances with standing pilot lights. We do a baseline test to see what exists already and make sure it’s at a safe level. We test the appliances once we fire it up. We want to make sure there’s no carbon monoxide coming into the home. If there is carbon monoxide in the home, we want to figure out where it is and eliminate it.”
When it comes to winterizing a home, eliminating water issues is a big preventive measure, said John Seaver of Just Sprinklers.
One of the big issues is leaving standing
water in sprinkler pipes. When there is a deep, extended freeze, lingering water can turn to ice, expand and burst pipes.
“We take an air compressor and we blow air into the sprinkler lines. It blows all the through the lines so no water is left in the system,” Seaver said. “A few years ago, we had a bad freeze. The cold front hung on for two to three days. It destroyed sprinkler systems in Albuquerque. That spring we were replacing tons of sprinkler lines.”
It’s important to make sure the valves have no water in them and to turn off sprinkler systems for the winter, he said.
“I’ve seen sprinklers that weren’t turned off and they get water all over the sidewalk and freeze; and man, that’s a liability,” Seaver said.
If homeowners prefer to continue to use their watering systems during the winter, “make sure to have the lines insulated or winter-protected,” he said.
“Or there are other things you can do, like put heat tape and insulated material around the lines and insulated pillows around equipment, so that way if they want to water in the wintertime manually, they can make sure the equipment is insulated and ready for winter.”
A little preventative maintenance now could forestall big bills later, Seaver said.
“If you blow it out, insulate and turn off the timer, you’re protected for winter. So when you start it up in the spring, hopefully you’ll have minimal issues to deal with,” he said. “This will minimize additional repairs that are needed … It won’t get rid of them all, but will definitely minimize them.”
Other easy fixes include disconnecting hoses and covering the hose bibs with insulated, egg-shape forms, Miller said. Standing water can freeze, build up and back into the house spigot, bursting home water lines, which would be an expensive issue to correct.
Attic vents and turbines are also a frequently overlooked item, but covering them can be quite effective, he said.
“Attic vents or turbines: those are great in the summer to extract heat out of the attic space or crawl space, but in the winter you want to trap as much heat as possible,” Miller said. “Installing coverings on those, or sealing those openings, prevents a waste of energy from the attic space.”
And simply turning off the attic fan is a big help, he said. “Most people don’t even think about it.”
And finally, when it is going to particularly cold, it’s not a bad idea to leave an interior faucet on so it drips, he said.
“They’ve said it’s going to be a super cold and wet winter this year,” Miller said. “If it’s going to be one of those weeks and you’re worried about freezing water pipes, it’s always a good practice to leave a faucet dripping, or allow for a small flow to prevent water pipes from freezing or bursting. That’s always a good practice.”