Empty houses and Alberta winters are a poor combination. A furnace that quits on a cold night in an occupied home gets noticed within hours. In a house left alone for a few weeks over the holidays or for a winter somewhere warmer, the same failure can go unseen until pipes have frozen, split and thawed, and water has been running for days. A bit of preparation before you lock the door lowers the odds considerably.
1. Read your insurance conditions
Many home insurance policies in Canada include conditions that apply when a house is unoccupied during the heating season. These typically require either that someone checks the home at set intervals, or that the water supply is shut off and the plumbing drained. The exact wording and timeframes vary from one insurer to the next, and missing a condition can affect a claim for freezing damage. Read the policy itself, and ask your broker or insurer if anything is unclear before you leave.
If the condition involves regular visits, keep a simple record of who came by and when. A shared note or a string of text messages is enough, and it may matter if a claim is ever made.
2. Keep the heat on and the furnace ready
Turning the thermostat down saves some energy, but going too low leaves pipes in exterior walls and corners vulnerable. A moderate setting is safer than a dramatic setback. Have the furnace serviced in the fall, put in a fresh filter before you go, and make sure the thermostat has new batteries if it uses them.
Leave interior doors open so warm air reaches every room, and resist closing heat registers in spaces you are not using. Cabinet doors under sinks on outside walls can stay open too, which lets heat get to the pipes behind them.
If your furnace is a high-efficiency model, it probably vents through the side of the house with two plastic pipes. Snow drifts and frost buildup can block those pipes, and a blocked vent can shut the furnace down. Whoever clears your snow should know to keep them clear.
3. Shut off and drain the water if you can
Closing the main valve and draining the lines removes most of the risk, since there is little water left to freeze or escape. After closing the main, open the taps on every level, starting from the top, flush the toilets and let the lines empty. Check the manufacturer’s instructions before doing anything with the water heater; many have a vacation setting that is simpler than draining the tank.
One caution: houses heated by a boiler with hot-water radiators or in-floor heating use water in the heating system itself. Shutting off the supply in those homes needs advice from a heating contractor, because the system may depend on it.
If a full shutdown is not practical, closing the individual valves to the washing machine, the fridge’s ice maker line and the toilets still removes some of the most common failure points.
4. Arrange for someone to check in
A trusted neighbour, friend or relative with a key is the most reliable protection there is. Ask them to walk through every level each time they visit, look at the thermostat reading, glance at ceilings and under sinks, and check that the sump pit is not filling. Make sure they know where the main shut-off is and how to close it.
Give them a short list of phone numbers as well: yours, a plumber, the furnace company and a local water damage restoration team that answers calls around the clock. If something does go wrong while you are a few time zones away, they will not have to search for help in a panic.
5. Add sensors that can raise the alarm
Wi-Fi water sensors placed near the water heater, washer, sump pit and under sinks can send an alert to a phone the moment they detect water. Temperature sensors and smart thermostats can warn when the house is getting colder than it should. Some systems can even close the main valve automatically when a leak is detected.
These devices are useful, but they rely on power and an internet connection, both of which can drop during the same storm that causes the problem. Treat them as a second layer behind a person who actually visits, not a replacement. Test each one before leaving and confirm the alerts arrive on the phone you will actually carry while travelling.
6. Take care of the outside
Disconnect and drain garden hoses and shut off any outdoor taps that have a separate interior valve. Clear the eavestroughs before freeze-up so meltwater has somewhere to go during a midwinter thaw. Arrange for snow clearing on the driveway and walks; besides keeping vents and paths open, a cleared driveway makes the house look lived in.
Finally, take a few photos of each room on the way out. If you come home to a problem, pictures of how everything looked when you left will help with the cleanup and with any claim that follows.