It’s Getting Cold Fast — Is Your Home Ready?

In the Greater Edmonton Area, fall doesn’t fade out — it gets switched off. A mild October afternoon can give way to snow and real cold within days, and that is the week a house finds out what it wasn’t ready for. If you worked through our fall checklist, you are most of the way there. This is the shorter list for when the forecast turns: the things that fail first when the cold comes fast, and what to do about each one before it does.

The deep cold is not a rare event here. The Government of Alberta says temperatures can reach minus 40°C or colder, and an extreme cold warning is issued when the temperature or the wind chill gets there. You don’t need to wait for that warning to get ready. Every job below is easier on a mild day than on a cold one.

Turn The Heat On Before You Need It

The worst time to find out your furnace won’t start is the first cold night, when every heating contractor in the city is getting the same call. Run it now, on a mild day, while there is time to fix whatever turns up.

• Put in a clean filter first. A clogged filter makes the furnace work harder for the whole winter. Our MERV filter guide will help you pick one.
• Run it through a full cycle. Turn the thermostat up a few degrees and let the furnace run. Warm air should reach every room. If it won’t light, keeps starting and stopping, or makes a noise it didn’t make last spring, call a licensed HVAC technician now rather than at minus thirty.
• Expect a burning-dust smell. A short burning-dust smell the first time is usually normal. Our article on why a furnace smells like burning explains how long it should last, and the smells that are not dust.
• Get the yearly inspection on the books. Health Canada says keeping fuel-burning appliances well maintained helps prevent carbon monoxide from being released into your home, and to have a professional inspect them at least once a year, or as the manufacturer instructs.
• Check your carbon monoxide alarm. Health Canada says that if you have fuel-burning appliances, you should have at least one carbon monoxide alarm with battery backup, and that the most important place for it is in the hallway outside sleeping areas.

Keep The Vents On Your Outside Walls Clear

Many newer furnaces are high-efficiency models that breathe through a pair of plastic pipes on an outside wall: one draws in air for the burner and the other carries the exhaust out. The dryer, the HRV, and often the water heater and the fireplace vent through the walls or the roof too. When snow drifts over those openings or ice builds up on them, things go wrong quickly.

• Check them during and after every snowstorm. Health Canada says to inspect exhaust vents during and after snowstorms to make sure they aren’t blocked with ice or covered by snow or debris — for the dryer, the furnace, the fireplace and chimney, a wood-burning or gas stove, and any other appliance with an exhaust vent.
• Know why it matters. The federal Get Prepared guidance warns that dangerous levels of carbon monoxide can build up if fuel-burning appliance exhaust vents are blocked. On many high-efficiency furnaces, a blocked pipe will also simply shut the furnace off — in the coldest weather of the year.
• Don’t bury them yourself. Keep shovelled and blown snow away from the vent pipes, and clear the openings gently by hand rather than with a shovel or anything sharp. Ice inside a pipe is a job for a licensed HVAC technician.
• Free the dryer and HRV hoods. Edmonton Fire Rescue Services says to check that the outdoor clothes dryer vent flap isn’t covered with snow, and CMHC says to keep snow and frost clear of the HRV’s outdoor hoods through the winter.

Protect Your Pipes When The Temperature Drops

A fast drop catches pipes that were fine last week. EPCOR’s frozen-pipe advice comes down to two things: keep heat on the water lines, and keep water moving through them.

• Keep the heat on. EPCOR says to keep your home heated at normal levels to avoid cold spots, especially in basements and crawl spaces where the water line comes into your home.
• Wrap the vulnerable lines. EPCOR says to wrap water lines near outer walls or doors with insulation, and to wrap exterior water lines with heat tape.
• Keep water moving. EPCOR says to turn your taps on regularly, and that even a slow drip of hot or cold water can help prevent freezing. Opening the cabinet doors under a sink on an outside wall lets the room’s warm air reach the pipes.
• Finish the outside jobs today. If the hoses are still connected, disconnect them and turn off the outdoor faucets. EPCOR warns that a frozen hose faucet can burst and cause water damage inside your home.
• Going away? EPCOR says to leave your heat on. You can lower the temperature, but not too low, and don’t turn it off completely. Ask whoever checks on the house to run each tap for a few minutes.

Know the signs. EPCOR says that no water, or just a trickle, with no water main break in your area, likely means a frozen line, and so does frost on exposed pipes under sinks or in an unfinished basement. Act quickly: the longer a pipe stays frozen, the more likely it is to burst. Use gentle heat such as a hair dryer, never an open flame, and call a plumbing or heating company if it won’t thaw. Our frozen pipes guide covers the rest, and it is worth finding your main water shut-off now, before you need it.

Turn The Humidity Down As It Gets Colder

This one surprises people every year. The humidity that was fine in September starts running down the windows in the first week of real cold. ATCO Energy suggests keeping a home closer to 30 to 35 per cent relative humidity in winter to help prevent condensation on the windows, and the colder the glass gets, the less moisture it takes to fog it.

Natural Resources Canada calls condensation and frost on the inside of windows a common complaint, and says one solution is to reduce the humidity in the house. It also notes that curtains and blinds may cause window condensation problems in winter.

So when the forecast drops, turn the humidifier down with it. If water collects on the glass, it is set too high. Run the bathroom fan when you shower, and if you have an HRV, make sure it is running and clean. Our article on window condensation explains what the moisture is telling you, and our ice dams and attic rain articles cover what happens when that same moist air reaches a cold attic.

If The Power Or The Heat Goes Out

A winter outage is the one nobody plans for. Get Prepared says that when the power goes out, you may be left without heating, lighting or running water, and that your household should be prepared to cope on its own.

• Build a 72-hour kit. Get Prepared says a kit should keep your household safe and comfortable for 3 days, starting with two litres of water per person per day, food that won’t spoil, a wind-up or battery-powered flashlight and radio, and extra batteries. For fall and winter, add warm clothing, gloves, socks and heat packs.
• Know your water shut-off. Get Prepared says to learn how to shut off the water in your house, and to drain water from your plumbing system, because pipes can freeze during winter outages.
• Keep the generator and the barbecue outside. Get Prepared says never to use a fuel-burning generator or cooking equipment such as a barbecue or camping stove inside a home, garage, basement, crawlspace or shed. Health Canada says to run a generator at least 6 metres (20 feet) from any home or building.
• Don’t warm up the car in the garage. Health Canada says not to idle a vehicle in the garage, even when the garage door is open, and to keep the door between your house and the garage closed.
• Use space heaters carefully. Edmonton Fire Rescue Services says to plug a space heater directly into the wall, never into an extension cord, to keep anything that can burn 1 metre away, and to turn it off and unplug it when you leave the room or go to bed.
• Protect the house for when the power comes back. Get Prepared says to unplug tools, appliances and electronics, and to turn your thermostat down to prevent damage from a power surge when power is restored.

If Your Carbon Monoxide Alarm Goes Off

Health Canada says you cannot see, smell or taste carbon monoxide; only an alarm can detect it. If yours sounds, leave your home immediately and move to fresh air. Don’t try to find the source. Once you are outside, call 9-1-1, your local fire department or emergency services, and go back in only after a professional has fixed the problem.

Where Home Pros Fits — And Where It Doesn’t

Most of this list is do-it-yourself work, and it should be. Our part is the air side of a long winter: furnace and duct cleaning, dryer vent cleaning, HRV cleaning alongside a furnace and duct cleaning, and blown-in attic insulation. An insulation visit starts with a free attic inspection, and a good share of those end with us telling you the attic is fine.

We don’t do plumbing, electrical or roofing, and we don’t repair, install or replace furnaces. If your furnace won’t start or a vent pipe is iced up inside, you will be calling a licensed HVAC contractor — not us. If you smell gas, leave the house and call ATCO’s 24-hour emergency line at 1-800-511-3447, or 9-1-1. Because we don’t sell repairs, we have no reason to find a problem that isn’t there.

Quick Answers

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This article is general home-maintenance information, not an inspection of your home. Electrical, gas and plumbing work must be done by a licensed professional. Guidance is summarized from EPCOR, Health Canada, Get Prepared, ATCO Energy, Natural Resources Canada, CMHC, the Government of Alberta and the City of Edmonton. Always follow your equipment manufacturer’s instructions.