We are in for another cold winter.
But our house is ready.
The heating maintenance has been completed and that’s the last next to last thing on the list when it comes to winter prep. I start getting things ready for winter as early as mid summer. This is more for all the wood I have to get cut, split and stacked. We use a wood stove as a supplemental heating source as well as emergency heating in case of power outages or a gas furnace problem. But with the HVAC maintenance each fall, we’ve never experienced the gas furnace breaking down on us. Once all the wood is all stacked up, I focus on the house and the HVAC equipment. I make sure that the weather stripping is in good shape and replace any that needs it. Keeping the house sealed tight also includes yearly inspections of the exterior as well as insulation levels in the attic. Once the HVAC technician completes the heating maintenance, I only have one last task to complete the winter prep. And that task consists of me putting a solid plastic cover over the HVAC cabinet outside. This is essentially protecting the HVAC cooling equipment for the long winter spent outside in the elements. The hard plastic shell keeps the weight of snow and ice from damaging delicate parts inside the HVAC cabinet. Plus, some of the icicles that fall from the top of the roof could really damage the HVAC equipment as well if left unprotected. It’s sort of ironic that I finish preparations for winter by protecting the source of our HVAC cooling.