Cold Weather Preparations

Hi,
I decided to send you a link with the information I wanted to communicate rather than draft and send each of you a long separate message. 
    Winter seems to bring one or two really cold blasts that dropped temps into low teens or single digits. Along with wind chills, these can cause trouble for heat systems and plumbing.
    Starting Saturday and going through Tuesday morning, we do have a cold blast moving in that will drop temps to around 0 degrees. We need to take precautions as this is a dangerous blast for people, pets and our homes.
   You definitely want to run water at night starting on Saturday and keep doing so through Monday night into Tuesday as described below. If pipes freeze or break, it will be nearly impossible to get a plumber very quickly. Let's try to avoid this if at all possible.
   I advise you to do a couple of things so as to hopefully not have any freezing issues with plumbing. Please read the following in preparation for weather event:

1. Be safe and prepare for trouble out there. The sharp drop in temperatures combined with high winds (and snow and ice) will make it very dangerous outdoors. Be careful.
2. Plumbing systems are most vulnerable in this kind of situation, especially in these older houses. With that, please plan to run a mix of cold & hot water through a faucet or two when you go to bed nights. Keep a small stream (not just dripping, a stream) of water running so as to keep water moving through pipes. This is most likely the kitchen sink area, plus you could additionally run water at another point in the house, such as bath tub.
3. Open cabinet doors under kitchen and bath sinks. This just keeps warm air moving around plumbing.
4. Most of you have all electric HVAC systems with heat pumps (1400 is the exception). Do not set your thermostats to emergency heat settings as this will not provide any more heat than the normal heat pump setting.
5. Consider getting an electric space heater as I expect HVAC systems will not be able to keep up at certain points of this cold spell.

    Heat pump systems automatically switch on emergency when it cannot produce enough heat to meet thermostat settings. I believe all are set so that if temps drop more than two degrees below settings, emergency heat is engaged. Emergency heat is more expensive than heat pump settings, but it should push up heat more quickly.
   Generally, it's advised not to go to emergency heat settings unless the outside unit is frozen or damaged.
---------------
     Hopefully these precautions will keep pipes from freezing. This cold spell will drag on a bit. I expect heat units to be stressed as well, but trust they will do the job until this passes. As noted above, a space heater may be a good idea to have around in case it gets a bit chilly inside.
   DON'T LEAVE SPACE HEATERS RUNNING WHEN YOU'RE NOT AT HOME!
     Of course, text me if you have issues with these systems.
​
Kermit