The Effects of a Weighty Snowfall on Your HVAC System

While the Broken Arrow area might get away with just a few inches of snow some winters, a weighty snowfall of several feet isn't unheard of. Learning how snow like this can affect your HVAC system will help you protect the system better when that blanket of white piles up.

Snow Damage

The weight of snow alone is unlikely to damage the outdoor unit of a standard heat pump or AC, but a particularly weighty snowfall can get heavy enough to bring down a window unit or even the wall-mounted outdoor condenser of a ductless mini split. Icicles and snow that build up on roof eaves or branches above your outdoor unit are a more likely cause of damage. These can fall with enough force to crush evaporator fins or any internal component they happen to land on. Moisture from heavy snow is another issue. If the unit freezes over, the expanding ice can deform the fins.

To prevent damage, regularly brush snow off your outdoor unit and shovel it away, but avoid using sharp tools to remove ice. Never cover your heat pump. If it ices over, the defrost cycle should remove the ice. It's fine to cover your AC with a sheet of plywood weighed down by bricks, but never use a cover that holds in moisture.

Blockages

A fuel-burning furnace exhausts carbon monoxide out of the house through an exhaust pipe usually located on the roof or near the foundation. A weighty snowfall can clog this pipe and cause deadly carbon monoxide (CO) gas to flow back into your home. Most furnaces have a safety switch that shuts the system down when there's a blockage, but a partial blockage can interfere with your system's performance without triggering the safety. Stay safe by regularly inspecting your furnace's exhaust and use your hands to gently remove any snow buildup you find.

For more tips on keeping your system safe from a weighty snowfall, talk with us at Air Assurance.

Ice Dams: Here's How To Prevent Them

While heating and insulation keep you protected from ice and cold in winter in your Broken Arrow home, winter conditions outdoors could lead to an ice disaster.Ice dams -- thick ridges of ice built up along a roof's eaves -- can rip off gutters and pull shingles loose on a roof, causing melted snow to back up into the house. This can cause paint to peel and floors to warp, while also resulting in stained, sagging ceilings and damp insulation.

How Does an Ice Dam Start?

Heat collected in the attic warms the roof, but not at the eaves. Snow then melts on the warmed roof, freezing on the eaves. Ice forms along the eaves, creating a dam. Melted water from the roof gets backed up behind the dam, seeps under the shingles and enters the house.Don't try to chop ice dams with hammers, chisels or shovels. It is dangerous and can hurt roofing. Throwing salt on dams is ineffective and can harm plantings.Here are some methods for dealing with ice dams:

• Place a box fan in the attic and blow in cold air, aiming at the underside of the roof where water is leaking in.

• Rake snow from the roof with an aluminum roof rake with a long handle that can be safely used from the ground. A roof rake can damage roofing materials, so be careful. Do not work on the roof itself, as this risks personal injury and damage to the roof and house. Leave this work to professionals.

• In an emergency where water is pouring into the house, hose down the roof on a warm day to make channels through the ice dam so water can drain temporarily. Start at the lower edge of the ice dam and work upward.

In the long term, make sure ceilings are air-tight to avoid warm, moist air entering attic space from other areas of the house. Another long-term solution is to increase roof insulation to curb heat loss by conduction.For more on ice dams and other winter topics, feel free to contact us at Air Assurance. We've served the Broken Arrow area since 1985.Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). Image courtesy of Shutterstock