Warm temps give you an extra chance to follow these tips and save big ahead of winter
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. -- The weather and the calendar will match up again, and Minnesotans know what that's like and how to be prepared.
That means despite the warm temperatures, thousands of homeowners are calling crews to blow out their hoses and sprinklers to avoid any damage from the incoming freeze.
"That part on the side of your house will go snap, crackle and pop, and then you're wondering why water's shooting out and, 'Why didn't I do this earlier?'" said Paul Pattee, owner of Upper Mississippi Irrigation. "You get below freezing, that will hurt."
Pattee explained that most irrigation systems are about a foot underground, which is well within the reach of winter frosts that penetrate up to 3 feet.
"It's been very dry this fall, but once we've had a frost, the grass quits growing and kind of goes dormant and you just don't need to water anymore," Pattee said. "Shut them down, don't worry about a repair bill, and wait until next spring to get things up and green again."
Furnaces, meanwhile, have been shut down for many months across the region, but that's likely to change quickly.
Neil Olson, owner of Neil Heating and Air Conditioning Company, told WCCO that in 50-plus years of business, the vast majority of problems come down to one major mistake.
"The biggest problem that people have is that they forget about their furnace filters. It's critical," Olson said. "They get so dirty that the air can't pass through the filter. The motor is an air-cooled motor. If you can't get air past the motor, the motor overheats and then that burns out."
According to experts, filters should be changed every month.
"If you don't change the filter, you can't get air across the motor, the motor doesn't function properly and the burner overheats the chamber," OIson said. "And anytime you overheat metal … it expands, it contracts, it can develop cracks in it."
A new furnace could cost as much as $10,000. Other important tips ahead of the cold snap include proper placement and function of carbon monoxide detectors.
"You should have a carbon monoxide checker all the time in the house," Olson said. "One upstairs and downstairs."
