Preparing your apartment for winter

 As the colder weather arrives, it’s important to make sure your apartment is ready for winter. Below are a few tips to keep you warm during the winter months.

Before the temperatures drop too low, make sure that your heat is working properly. On a chillier day in October, simply turn your heat on and up a few degrees. Make sure that the thermostat gets up to the temperature that you set it to. If your heat kicks on and gets up to the temperature you set it to and shuts off, your heat is working fine. If your heat does not get up to the temperature that you set it to, please call our office and we will have someone come to your apartment to check it out. It will be helpful for you and will keep our maintenance staff from being overwhelmed if we can make sure everyone’s heat is working properly before temperatures drop below freezing. Just a reminder, there will often be a burning smell when you first turn on your heat for the season which is perfectly normal. The smell should go away after you run your furnace for a few minutes.

On a similar note, ceiling fans have different settings for winter and summer. If you have a ceiling fan in your apartment, there should be a switch on the base of the ceiling fan to switch the direction the fan rotates. The fan should move counterclockwise in the summer and clockwise in the winter months. To tell which way your fan is running, stand underneath it and if you feel cold air blowing down on you, the fan is running counterclockwise. The fan should run clockwise in winter to move warm air around the room.

Consider adding rugs to hard floors as they can be helpful to trap in heat during the winter months. Hanging tapestries, wall posters and heavy blinds around windows can help to prevent warm air from escaping, helping to bring down your heating bill.

If you plan on going on vacation this winter, be sure to set your furnace to at least 55 degrees before you leave so that your pipes don’t freeze.