The Alaska Homeowner’s Fall Checklist: 12 Things to Do Before Freeze-Up
In Anchorage, the window between the kids going back to school and the first hard freeze is about six
weeks, and it is the only comfortable time of year to get your home ready for the seven months of winter
that follow. Here is the checklist our technicians would run on their own homes, in the order it should
happen: late August for scheduling and outdoor work, September for your heating system, and early
October for the final freeze-up items.
Late August: Schedule and Outdoor Work
- Book your furnace or boiler tune-up now
Not because we sell them, but because October is when every heating company’s schedule fills with
no-heat emergencies, and maintenance appointments get pushed weeks out. Booking in August means
you pick the date, and if the technician finds a failing part, you fix it before you need the heat. - Disconnect garden hoses and winterize outdoor faucets
The single most common preventable plumbing failure we see every spring starts with a hose left
connected in the fall. Water trapped in the hose bib freezes, splits the pipe inside your wall, and the leak
does not show up until you use the faucet next summer. Disconnect hoses, drain them, and shut the
interior valve to each outdoor faucet if your home has one. - Clean gutters and check grading
Fall leaves plus an early freeze equals ice dams and foundation water. Clear gutters after the leaves drop
and make sure downspouts discharge away from the foundation. - Check your heat tape and heat trace
If your home relies on heat tape for exposed pipes, crawl spaces, or roof edges, plug it in and verify it
warms before you need it. Heat tape fails quietly. You find out in January.
September: Your Heating System
- Give your furnace a test run
Pick a cool evening in early September and run the heat for 20 to 30 minutes. A dusty smell for the first few
minutes is normal. Grinding, booming, short-cycling, or a burning smell that does not fade is not, and
September is the right month to find that out. - Change your furnace filter and stock up
Start the heating season with a fresh filter and buy enough to change it every one to three months through
spring. A loaded filter makes your furnace work harder for the next 200 days straight. - Test smoke and carbon monoxide detectors
Combustion season is CO season. Test every detector, replace batteries, and check the manufacture
date. CO detectors expire after about seven years. - Service your water heater
Incoming water in Anchorage gets colder through fall and winter, which makes your water heater work
harder. Tankless units especially need annual descaling in our water conditions.
Early October: Final Freeze-Up Items
- Know where your main water shutoff is
If a pipe freezes and bursts, the difference between a mess and a disaster is measured in minutes. Every
adult in the house should know where the main shutoff is and how to turn it. - Clear slow drains before the ground freezes
A drain that runs slow in October tends to become a drain that stops in January, when exterior cleanout
access is buried and frozen. - Seal obvious drafts
Weatherstrip doors, close crawl space vents, and caulk gaps around penetrations. In a climate with a
100-degree indoor-outdoor temperature swing, small leaks are real money. - Set your thermostat strategy
68°F while home is the standard recommendation. Never set below 55°F in an Alaska home, even when
traveling. That margin is what protects your pipes during a cold snap.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is the first freeze in Anchorage?
Anchorage typically sees its first freezing nights in September, with an average of three nights dipping to
freezing that month, and hard freezes arriving in October. That is why this checklist starts in August:
waiting until it is cold means you have already lost the easy window.
What is the single most important item on this list?
If you do only two things: disconnect your hoses and get your heating system serviced. One prevents the
most common plumbing failure we see; the other prevents the most expensive kind of winter emergency.
Do I need to do all of this every year?
The heating and plumbing items, yes. Alaska equipment runs two to three times the hours of the same
equipment in the Lower 48. Sealing and grading work lasts longer once done well.
Want the Heating Items Off Your Plate?
KLEBS has been keeping Alaskans safe and warm since 1986. Call (907) 365-2500 in Anchorage or (907)
357-HEAT (4328) in the Mat-Su Valley, or send us a service request online. August and September
tune-up appointments go fast.