Simple Ways to Winterize & Prepare Your Home for Edmonton Winters

Key things to do to prepare your house and heating for the winter!

Winters in Edmonton, Alberta can be brutal, but you can easily prepare your house to keep warm and comfortable all throughout the season. The key? Start as soon as you can! Don’t wait until the winter hits.

You want to winter-ready your house BEFORE it gets super cold rather than to be doing these things in the middle of winter, because if you wait to prepare for the heating season, you might be in for a chilly surprise!

To help you stay warm this cold season, we’ve put together a handy list of easy tips you can do yourself to winterize your house! 

NOTE: While most of our tips are easy and you can do them on your own to winter-ready your home, remember to always call a professional if you’re ever unsure!

Furnace tune-up

If you have to ask “do I need to book my furnace tune-up early for the winter?” You should know the answer is a resounding YES!

Turn your furnace on and check it now so you know in advance whether it works, and then book your tune-up so you can ensure any maintenance and services are done well in advance. You want your furnace in its best working condition before the cold hits.

Don’t get caught without a working furnace in the middle of a cold snap—especially when companies will be all booked up and you’ll have to wait!

Furnace filters

Make sure to check and change those furnace filters according to manufacturer’s instructions! In fact, did you know that often, best maintenance calls for changing filters MORE than usual during the winter?

Some manufacturers will recommend changing filters more often in the winter to help avoid mold and improve the efficiency of your furnace, meaning you stay healthy and your utility bills are as low as possible.

This is because a clogged furnace filter can cause issues and unnecessary strain on the furnace, and that’s not what you need in sub-zero temperatures!

Inspect outdoor unit

Winter prep for your home can include an outdoor component! If you have an outdoor unit to your HVAC system, make sure to give it a glance. Check and remove debris, trim surrounding plants (like bushes and trees), and consider a cover if necessary.

If you see signs of wear or damage on the outdoor HVAC unit, it’s important to contact us before the winter hits! If you only discover this during a cold snap, you might find the wait times for a technician to be longer than usual, and you want to avoid waiting as much as you can when the weather is frigid.

Clear and clean exhaust vents (for your furnace)

Did you know exhaust vents need to be cleaned? Check for build up in your exhaust vents and clean them out if you can, because your furnace needs these to work; they’re like the lungs of your home!

Exhaust vents can freeze when there’s more humidity in the air, especially when there’s snow, which can cut off air to your furnace. A clogged or frozen vent can decrease your furnace’s efficiency and even cause errors codes or even damage your furnace. Definitely not what you want when trying to stay cozy in the winter!

If you don’t know whether your furnace is working efficiently, give us a call, and we’d be happy to help!

Check thermostat, install a smart thermostat

Another easy thing you can do is to simply check that your thermostat is working! If it isn’t, you (hopefully) have plenty of time to repair or replace it. Otherwise, your furnace will not know when it needs to turn, meaning you might experience uncomfortable temperatures throughout your home.

A smart thermostat can also be an incredible investment in lowering utility bills, preventing major damage, and being a first alert if something breaks down—like your furnace!

Remember that Google currently has a promotion if you have a first or second generation Google Nest Thermostat!

Drain hose bibs (the outside faucet)

Another outdoor component to winterizing your home includes the hose bib (also known as your outdoor faucet).

This is a faucet that directly connects to your home’s plumbing, which means you want to remove your hose from the hose bib to avoid trapped water that will freeze and damage it.

Turn off water access with your shut-off valve if there is one, then make sure you drain the water.

Don’t know how to do this? Call a profession to help! Otherwise, if this is not done—or done incorrectly—there is a higher chance of freezing pipes, and burst pipes can cause internal wall flooding, water damage, and mold growth!

Going away for winter? Have someone check on your home!

Having someone check in on your home during vacations is extra important in Albertan winters.

If you’re going to be away from your house for any extended period, it’s extremely important to have someone come check on your home at least every 48 hours. In fact, it’s so important that some insurance policies may even have a maximum duration of time the home may be left unattended.

As we all know, when something goes wrong, it can go wrong very, very fast—especially in the chilly winters of Alberta—so it’s important to minimize damage. Having someone check your house every 48 hours means anything that goes wrong can be caught early so you can act early. No one wants further damage to their home when it could have been prevented (such as cracked toilets and bathtubs…trust us, we’ve seen it all, and you don’t want that!).

There you go! Our easy tips for preparing your home for the winter—even if you’re away. With Alberta’s harsh winters, houses need a little help to keep you comfortable and cozy. Winterizing your home with just a few quick and easy tips will go a long, long way in making sure everything is in tip-top shape.

The best part of preparing early is getting to avoid lengthy wait times and after-hours repairs because you checked early and booked your furnace tune-up today!

Have a question about water tanks or need hot water tank repairs? We’ve got your back!