Cold-snap readiness for Whatcom County buildings and homes.
When a Fraser outflow is forecast, there are usually two or three days' warning. This is how to use them — and what to watch for while the wind blows and after it stops.
If you smell gas, leave and call the gas company or 911 from outside. If a heating appliance is making unusual noises, smells of burning, or you have a carbon monoxide alarm sounding, switch it off and get out. Heating work can wait; people can't.
The full countdown
Seventy-two hours to the morning after.
−72 hForecast
Find the weak units while there's time.
Buildings
Run heat on every rooftop unit, air handler and unit heater; note any that are slow to fire, short-cycle or trip.
Replace loaded filters — a starved unit struggles most in the cold.
Check that heat pumps have working backup heat and that it's enabled.
Book repairs now. Everyone calls on the first freezing morning.
Homes
Run the heat for an hour and see if it keeps up.
Change the filter.
Find your thermostat's emergency or backup heat setting and how to switch it on.
If a furnace hasn't been serviced this year, now is the time.
−24 hArrival
Set the building to hold heat.
Buildings
Raise night and weekend setbacks in any space with water in the walls, ceilings or near exterior doors.
Check outside-air and economizer dampers close properly — an open damper in a freezing wind is the classic cause of tripped freeze switches and split coils.
Clear roof access so a technician can get to units if needed.
Homes
If you're going away, don't turn the heat right down.
Clear leaves and clutter around the outdoor unit.
Make sure the plastic intake and exhaust pipes of a high-efficiency furnace aren't blocked.
DuringThe cold
Keep the air paths clear, and watch.
Buildings
Wind-driven snow can pack rooftop unit intakes. Units starved of air overheat or lock out.
If an air handler trips on freeze protection, find out why before resetting it.
Unit heaters in warehouses may run continuously — that's their job; if one stops, call.
Homes
A heat pump steaming during defrost is normal. A unit encased in ice isn't — don't chip it; switch to backup heat and call.
Keep snow off furnace intake and exhaust pipes outside.
If the house can't keep up, close off unused rooms rather than turning up the thermostat repeatedly.
Ice building up at the base of a heat pump — this one needs attention.
AfterThe thaw
Look for what the cold left behind.
Buildings
Frozen or split condensate lines and coils; water under units and on ceilings.
Units left in emergency or lockout modes.
Freeze switches reset without the cause fixed.
Homes
Water around the furnace or indoor unit.
Switch the heat pump back out of emergency heat — it's expensive to leave on.
Anything that sounded different during the cold snap is worth a check.
General guidance. Every building and system is different, and freeze protection for water pipes is plumbing work — we handle the heating, cooling and ventilation side.
Drifted snow at a rooftop unit's intake.
For facility managers
Before the season, not before the storm.
The countdown works best when the autumn visit has already been done. Our pre-winter commercial visit covers:
Burners, igniters, heat exchangers and venting on gas units.
Defrost and backup heat on heat pumps.
Damper operation and freeze protection on air handlers.
