Before the first hard freeze — which on the Palouse can arrive anytime after mid-October — run this five-item fall HVAC checklist. Most of it takes an afternoon and no tools; two items need a licensed tech and are worth the service call. Getting these done before Thanksgiving means you sleep better through the January cold snaps.
What does 'ready for winter' actually mean?
A furnace or heat pump that's been sitting idle through summer isn't automatically ready to run reliably through 30+ nights of hard use. Dust builds up in blowers, mice occasionally find their way into ductwork, condensate lines can develop slow leaks, and combustion equipment needs a safety check before you start running it 12 hours a day in a closed house.
"Ready" means the system runs cleanly at every stage, the safeties test correctly, airflow is where it should be, and there are no small problems ready to become 2 a.m. emergencies at –10°F.
What can you do yourself this weekend?
- Replace the furnace filter. Even if it looks okay, replace it. A clogged filter is the single most common cause of first-cold-snap no-heat calls. Note the size on the frame so you have spares.
- Test the thermostat. Bump the heat setting up 5°F and confirm the system fires within a minute. If it's a battery-powered thermostat, replace the batteries — dead batteries at 20°F is a sad way to spend an evening.
- Clear the outdoor unit. If you have a heat pump or dual-fuel system, the outdoor unit needs to be clear of leaves, debris, and any garden furniture that's been stored against it over summer.
- Check outdoor faucets and exposed pipes. Disconnect hoses, drain and insulate any exposed spigots. Frozen hose bibs are the most common winter plumbing failure we see.
- Test smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Especially critical if you have a gas furnace or a wood stove. Fresh batteries, verified alarm, documented test date.
Where do homeowners get in trouble?
The classic pattern is skipping the professional tune-up because "the furnace ran fine last winter." The problem is that a lot of failures develop gradually — a slightly cracked heat exchanger, a weak flame sensor, a slow refrigerant leak in a heat pump — and they don't show up until the system is running under load in cold weather. By then you're a service call away from a repair that could have been caught during a $150 tune-up.
The other trap is DIYing combustion equipment. Homeowners can safely change filters and clean around the unit. Homeowners should not open the burner assembly, adjust gas valves, or test heat exchangers. That's licensed-tech work for a reason — carbon monoxide is a real risk with a mis-adjusted burner.
What we've seen on the Palouse
Twenty-four years of fall tune-ups across Moscow, Pullman, Lewiston, and Colfax has taught us where the reliable failure points are. On older gas furnaces (pre-2010), it's flame sensors and pressure switches — cheap parts, but easy to catch during a tune-up before they leave you cold. On heat pumps, it's refrigerant charge and defrost sensor drift — both invisible from the outside, both quick fixes during maintenance. On mini-splits, it's outdoor unit debris and mode confusion in shoulder-season weather. None of these are dramatic; all of them are cheaper to catch in September than in January.
What to do next
Book your professional tune-up now. Our fall schedule fills through October and early November, and once the first real cold snap hits, service calls take priority over maintenance visits. Call (208) 596-7757 or request an appointment through our contact form. Ask about our maintenance plans — same-year discount plus priority scheduling when things do fail.