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Proudly Serving
Granger,IN & Surrounding Areas
Flexible Financing
Apply Online
Available 24/7
(574) 633-4557
Published September 21, 2026 - Cavinder Plumbing, Heating and Cooling - Granger, IN
Quick answer: Most people handle the furnace filter and the garden hose. The winter calls Cavinder takes come from seven other places: the furnace vent pipes, the gas meter, the sump discharge line, the humidifier, pipes inside outside walls, the irrigation backflow device, and well equipment. Each one takes a few minutes to check before the first hard freeze. Questions about any of them? Call (574) 633-4557.
You have seen the usual winterizing list, and ours is here: Fall Preparation Tips for Your HVAC and Plumbing Systems covers the flame sensor, pipe insulation, garden hoses, the water heater flush, and the sump pump test. This post is what that list leaves out. It is written for a region that gets about 64 inches of snow a year because of Lake Michigan, according to the National Weather Service in Northern Indiana, and that saw 20 below zero at South Bend as recently as January 2019. Each item follows the same pattern: what it is, why it gets missed here, the two-minute check, and when to call.
A high-efficiency furnace does not vent up a chimney. It pulls in combustion air and pushes out exhaust through two white PVC pipes, usually a foot or two off the ground on a side wall. Power-vent water heaters use the same kind of pipe. That height is exactly where lake-effect drifts, snow sliding off the roof, and the discharge from a snow blower pile up.
When the pipes are buried, one of two things happens. The furnace senses the blockage and locks itself out, which is a no-heat call on the coldest night of the month. Or exhaust cannot leave the way it should, which is a carbon monoxide risk. NIPSCO's winter weather safety guidance tells customers to keep intake and exhaust vents clear of snow and ice for both reasons.
The two-minute check: find the pipes now, in daylight, before there is snow on the ground. Keep about three feet around them clear all winter, and clear them by hand after every heavy snowfall. Do not pile shoveled snow on that side of the house.
When to call: if the furnace quits during or after a storm, look at the vents first, then run through the seven things to check. If it still will not run, that is a furnace repair visit. And make sure every level of the house has a working CO detector; our carbon monoxide safety guide covers placement and what to do when one sounds.
The gas meter and its regulator need to breathe and need to be reachable. NIPSCO's guidance is specific: never let snow completely cover the meter, clear it with a broom, never hit it with a shovel or hammer to break up ice, do not shovel snow up against it, and be careful with a snow blower or plow nearby.
The part people miss is above the meter. Icicles and sheets of ice sliding off the roof land on the meter and regulator, and a heavy chunk can damage the piping. Look up. If the meter sits under an eave that builds icicles, knock them down while they are small and keep that gutter clear.
The two-minute check: after each snowfall, sweep the meter off with a broom and clear a path to it.
When to call: if the meter is completely encased in ice or the outside piping looks damaged, NIPSCO asks customers to call 1-800-464-7726. If you smell gas, leave the house, then call 911 and NIPSCO at 1-800-634-3524 from a safe distance.
Everyone tests the pump. Few people walk outside and look at where the water goes. A discharge line that holds water, because it sags, runs flat, or ends in a long extension hose across the lawn, freezes shut in the first deep cold spell. Nothing seems wrong until the January thaw or a rain-on-snow day, when the pit fills and the pump runs against a plug of ice. The pump overheats, the water has nowhere to go, and the basement floods with a pump that technically works.
The two-minute check: the line should slope away from the house and drain empty after each cycle. The outlet should sit above the snow depth you expect and stay clear of drifts. Take any extension hose off for the winter.
When to call: if the pump runs and the pit does not go down, unplug it before it burns out and call. Our sump pump guide covers testing and replacement, and the power outage checklist covers battery backups.
Many Michiana furnaces have a whole-home humidifier mounted on the ductwork that nobody has touched since it was installed. It needs three things each fall: a new water panel, the bypass damper moved to its winter position, and the water supply to it turned back on. Skip them and it either does nothing all winter or drips where it should not.
It is the pad inside the humidifier that furnace air passes through to pick up moisture. Minerals in Michiana's hard water clog it within a season, and a calcified panel is the most common reason a humidifier stops working. It is an annual replacement, not a lifetime part.
The other mistake is setting it high and forgetting it. In deep cold, a high setting puts condensation on the windows, and that water runs down into the sills. Turn the setting down as the outdoor temperature drops.
The two-minute check: open the cover and look at the panel. If it is white and crusted, replace it. Confirm the damper handle points to winter and the saddle valve or shutoff on the small water line is open.
When to call: if there is water on the floor under the unit or it never seems to run. Our whole-home humidifier page explains the types and what service involves.
Many South Bend and Mishawaka homes were built before 1950, often with the kitchen sink or a bathroom on an outside wall. Those supply lines run inside the wall itself, with little or no insulation between them and the siding. The foam sleeves you put on the basement pipes do nothing for them.
On nights near zero, open the cabinet doors under those sinks so room air reaches the wall, and let the faucet farthest from where the water enters the house run a pencil-width stream. If you travel, never set the thermostat below 55 degrees.
The two-minute check: this is the step that limits the damage if a pipe does freeze. Find the main water shutoff, hang a tag on it, and turn it once now to confirm it moves. A shutoff that has not been touched in twenty years often will not close when it matters.
When to call: if the shutoff will not turn, have it replaced before winter; that is a routine plumbing repair. If a line freezes every year, it may be time to reroute it, which our repiping page covers. If a faucet on an outside wall stops flowing on a cold morning, or a pipe has already split, see our emergency service page.
If you have a sprinkler system, there is a brass assembly where it connects to the house water supply, usually above ground next to the foundation. It is exposed, it is full of water, and it is the first plumbing on the property to freeze, usually in the first hard frost of mid to late October, weeks before anyone is thinking about pipes. A cracked body does not show itself until April, when the system is turned on and it sprays.
Your irrigation company's fall blowout clears the sprinkler lines, but it does not always drain this device.
The two-minute check: after the blowout, the small test cocks on the device should be open and its shutoff handles should sit at 45 degrees, half open, so no water is trapped inside. An insulated cover helps on top of that, not instead of it.
When to call: schedule the blowout with your irrigation company before mid-October. If the device is already cracked or leaking, we repair and replace backflow devices; see backflow prevention.
In Granger and the townships outside city limits, a private well is the default water source, as Harris Township notes for homes outside Mishawaka. City-water winterizing checklists skip this entirely. The pressure tank, the pressure switch, and the supply line often sit in a garage, a crawlspace, or a well pit, which are the coldest spaces a house has.
The small tube that feeds the pressure switch freezes first. The symptom is either no water at all or a pump that will not shut off, because the switch can no longer read the pressure.
The two-minute check: confirm that space stays above freezing on a cold night. Close crawlspace vents for the winter, close the garage door, and if there is heat tape on the line, check that it is plugged in, working, and rated for the pipe it is wrapped around.
When to call: for the pump itself, call your well contractor. For what a well-water home loses when the power goes out, see the well section of our power outage checklist.
The furnace side of this list is covered by a fall tune-up, and our post on why a fall tune-up saves you in January explains what that visit includes. Climate Shield and Home Shield members get their seasonal visits through the Cavinder Shield maintenance plans. Whatever a visit turns up, the work is quoted flat-rate in writing before it starts, so there are no surprises on the invoice.
Before mid-October. That is when the National Weather Service puts the average first freeze in the South Bend area, and the first hard frost is what damages irrigation backflow devices and outdoor faucets. Furnace and humidifier checks can happen any time in September or early October, before the heating season starts.
Yes. A high-efficiency furnace breathes through plastic intake and exhaust pipes on a side wall, often only a foot or two above the ground. When drifts or roof snow bury them, the furnace locks out for safety, or exhaust cannot leave properly, which is a carbon monoxide risk. Keep the area around the pipes clear all winter.
Use a broom. NIPSCO tells customers never to let snow completely cover the meter, never to hit it with a shovel or hammer to break up ice, and to be careful with snow blowers and plows nearby. If the meter is completely encased in ice, call NIPSCO at 1-800-464-7726 instead of chipping at it.
Water freezes at 32 degrees, but what matters is the temperature of the pipe, not the thermostat. A supply line inside an uninsulated outside wall can reach freezing while the room is comfortable, especially on windy nights near zero. Open the cabinet doors, let a faraway faucet run a thin stream, and never set the thermostat below 55 degrees when you travel.
Yes. The pressure tank, the pressure switch, and the supply line often sit in a garage, crawlspace, or well pit, and the small tube to the pressure switch freezes first. Keep that space above freezing, close crawlspace vents, and check that any heat tape is plugged in and rated for the pipe. For the pump itself, call your well contractor.
Call (574) 633-4557 or book online. If something has already frozen or failed, start at our emergency service page. For the household side of winter storms, FEMA's Ready.gov winter weather page covers supplies and travel. Licensed Indiana HVAC (CO19900013) and plumbing (PC19700254) contractor serving Granger, South Bend, Mishawaka, Elkhart, and across St. Joseph and Elkhart County and southwest Michigan.
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