If you have a vented crawl space, you should have closed the foundation vents at the start of freezing weather, but if you did not, please do so now. You can open them again when our freezing winter temperatures are past.

            For everyone, you need to cut off the water to your foundation exterior hose bibs/spigots, if you have not already done so. Even those of us who have the insulated covers over the hose bibs/spigots and/or conditioned crawls, need to do so for these extreme low temperatures. You should find a manual gate valve/turn handle or something similar somewhere between the exterior hose bib/spigot and the water supply. They may be in the crawl space, the basement or elsewhere, but they are there. Usually after I cut the supply valve off in the crawl or wherever, I go back to the exterior hose bib/spigot and open it so the small amount of water in the spigot can drain out and not freeze in the spigot.  In the spring when the freezing weather is past, you can cut the exterior hose bib/spigots back on, just do not forget to cut the outside hose bib/spigot back off before you cut the valve back on.

                    Another prudent action to take is to go around your house and check your hot and cold water supply pipes and see if any of them are on an outside wall. If so, during these extremely cold days you might consider opening the cabinet doors for pipes in vanities, kitchen cabinets, or the like so some warm room air can get to the exposed pipes. You can also consider letting the water drip overnight just so the water is not sitting still in the pipe.

                    Now also be reminded that your heating systems have almost certainly NOT been designed to accommodate these unusually low temperatures. Most systems are designed to accommodate an exterior temperature of 10 to 15 degrees while maintaining an inside temperature of 70 degrees (lower design temperatures could have significantly increased your equipment cost and your operating cost and most prudent purchasers do not opt to do so).

                    What this means to you is that as the exterior temperature drops below the theoretical exterior design temperature, your equipment's ability to maintain an inside temperature will drop correspondingly. Using 70 degrees inside at 10 degrees exterior as an example, then when the exterior temperature drops to zero it is logical to expect the inside temperature to drop correspondingly, thus 70-10 = 60 Degrees inside. Every house will react differently. No set equation will cover all residences, since your systems ability to produce heat is affected by many factors other than the equipment size, such as how much glass you have in the house, whether you have coverings over the glass, whether the sun is out vs cloudy, the orientation of your house, whether your system is fully charged and functioning properly, etc.

                    So my point in all of this explanation, is that I want all of us to be prepared for the possibility of the inside temperature not being 70 Degrees. I am not sure exactly how our heating systems will perform in these extreme low temperatures, but I do know that they will provide heat, how much is the question. It reinforces why I try to go above and beyond on the insulation stage of building so I think we will fare better than most.  Possibly another layer of clothing will be sufficient or not.

                    If you plan to use a portable heater to supplement the main system, just be sure follow the manufacturer's instructions for their use. DO NOT use gas cooking appliances to add supplemental heat in your house as I am sure you will read that violates the manufactures recommendations in every case.

            Now the good news is that as the exterior temperature rises, the ability of your furnace unit to maintain a higher inside temperature also rises. So these inconveniences, while annoying, will also go away.

            Enjoy the snow and remember spring will be here shortly.