When cold snaps hit, and they always do during the winter, it can put a lot of stress on your heating system. Every year our lines are flooded with calls from homeowners in need of furnace repair at the first onset of extreme cold weather. We’ve put together a few tips to give your furnace a fighting chance against the harsh winter weather this year.

Keep Your Filters Clean
When inclement weather hits, it forces your furnace to work overtime to try and keep up. It’s always important to stay on top of your furnace filter maintenance, but even more so when it’s extremely cold outside. The reason being, your furnace will be working hard to keep up as it is and the added stress of trying to force air through a dirty filter could be enough to cause it to break down. You should change your filter at least every 90 days, but it’s a good idea to check it beforehand if your region is expecting the temperature to drop drastically.

Blocked Intake and Exhaust
Extreme cold weather is often accompanied by heavy snowfalls, which can block your intake and exhaust pipes and lead to a furnace malfunction. Although your furnace will shut off in most cases as a fail-safe to protect itself, you will need to remedy the issue. Luckily, it’s a pretty simple fix.

• Locate the intake and exhaust pipes on the exterior of your home.
• Clear the snow and ice away from the pipes with a shovel, but be careful not to hit them because they become brittle in the cold, and you could crack them.
• After you have finished clearing the snow, your furnace should start up on its own, but if it doesn’t you may need to go inside and start it yourself.

Even if your furnace doesn’t shut off, you should follow the above steps after any heavy snowfall. Even a small amount of snow in your intake and exhaust pipes could cause moisture to build up inside your furnace, which could cause serious damage.

Furnace Maintenance
There’s no way to avoid extremely cold weather when you live in Canada, but you can make sure your furnace is ready for it. Scheduling annual maintenance for your heating system is the best way to ensure your system can stand up to whatever this winter throws at it. A licensed professional will clean your unit inside and out and inspect it for any damaged or worn components that could lead to a breakdown.

Concerned your system won’t make it through the harsh winter?
Upgrade your system with Fahrhall!

Fahrhall has been proudly serving the Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent regions’ HVAC needs for over 50 years. Our number one priority is providing clients with reliable equipment and quality service.

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