Before the First Hard Freeze: The Team's Fall Checklist for Your Plumbing and Heating

The combines are rolling, the Corn Palace has its new look, and somewhere in your basement a boiler that's been napping since May is about to be asked to work around the clock.

Think of fall like the pre-season for your home. No coach sends a team into the opening game without practice, and you don't want your heating system's first real workout to be a -15° night in January. A few hours of prep now, while it's still comfortable outside, can save you a cold house, a flooded basement, and a big repair bill later.

Here's what to check this fall, what you can handle yourself, and when to call the team.

1.Your boiler has been sleeping all summer. Wake it up gently.

Most of us flip the heat on the first chilly morning and walk away. That's a lot to ask of equipment that hasn't run in months.

Over the summer, dust settles in, parts sit idle, and small problems stay hidden until the system has to work hard. A fall tune-up is like a physical before a season of hard work: it finds the small stuff before it becomes the big stuff. For a boiler, that means checking burners and combustion, looking at the venting, testing safety controls, and making sure the system pressure and circulator pumps are right.

This matters even more for high-efficiency boilers like the Lochinvar units we install. They're built to squeeze the most heat out of every bit of fuel, and they run best when they're kept clean and dialed in.

“Is my boiler at the right pressure?” “Do I need to bleed the air from my system?”

2.Radiant and hydronic heat: the quiet system that still needs a checkup

If you have radiant in-floor heat or hot water baseboard, you already know how nice it is. (If you're thinking about it, our post on why hydronic heating is the smart choice for South Dakota winters covers why.) Because these systems are so quiet, though, it's easy to forget they're there until something goes wrong.

A hydronic system is a closed loop, a bit like the cooling system in your truck. It needs the right amount of water, the right pressure, and no air bubbles in the lines. Air in the system is the most common fall complaint: one room or zone stays cool while everything else heats normally, or you hear gurgling in the pipes.

3.The garden hose you forgot can cost you thousands

It happens every year. The hose stays connected to the outside faucet through the first hard freeze, water trapped inside freezes, and a pipe splits inside the wall where nobody can see it. Often nobody finds it until spring, when the faucet gets turned on again and water starts running into the basement.

Here's why that matters. Water expands by roughly 9% when it freezes, putting pressure on pipes that they can't handle. And the bill can be huge.

State Farm reports more than 20,000 frozen pipe claims in 2024–25, with an average payout of over $30,000.

Most of that cost isn't the pipe. It's the drywall, flooring, and belongings the water ruins.

Not sure where your outdoor shut-offs are? That's a good question to ask during a fall service visit.

4.Your water heater is about to earn its paycheck

Cold weather means colder incoming water, which means your water heater works harder all winter. It's a bigger part of your energy costs than most people think.

The Department of Energy found that water heating makes up about 18% of the average family's utility bill, the second-largest energy expense in the home.

The enemy here is sediment. Minerals settle at the bottom of the tank over time and form a layer between the burner or element and the water, like trying to boil a pot of water with a blanket on the bottom. Your water heater burns more energy to do the same job, and the tank wears out sooner.

5.Find the weak spots before winter does

Every house has spots where the pipes are more exposed than they should be. Winter finds those spots fast.

The usual problem areas are pipes along outside walls, in unheated garages and crawl spaces, under sinks on exterior walls, and anywhere cold air gets in around the foundation or rim joist. If a pipe froze last winter, it's likely to freeze again unless something changes.

There's also an insurance reason to take this seriously. Claims can be denied if the home was left without heat, sat vacant too long without proper precautions, or had maintenance problems that were ignored. Prevention protects both your home and your coverage.

6.Fix the sewer line while the ground is still soft

Nobody thinks about the sewer line until it backs up. But fall is the best time to deal with a slow or troublesome line, for a simple reason: digging is much easier before the ground freezes.

If your drains have been sluggish, you've had a backup or two, or you have an older home with big trees in the yard, a camera inspection can show what's happening underground. It's like getting an X-ray before surgery: you see the problem before anyone starts digging. We have our own excavating equipment for sewer and water line work, so if a repair is needed, fall is a much better time to do it than the middle of January.

“Essentially, it just takes a little longer to repair due to the frozen ground. Thankfully, we have a ground thaw unit that helps to speed the process of digging.”

7.The five-minute safety check that matters most

This one isn't about comfort or saving money. It's about keeping your family safe.

Any appliance that burns fuel, including boilers, furnaces, gas water heaters, and ranges, can produce carbon monoxide if something goes wrong with combustion or venting. You can't see, smell, or taste it.

According to the CDC, carbon monoxide poisoning kills more than 400 people in the U.S. every year, and slightly more than half of CO poisonings happen between November and February.

If a detector goes off, get everyone outside first and call for help from there.

Your fall checklist at a glance

• Test-run your heat before the first cold snap
• Schedule a boiler tune-up
• Check every radiant or hydronic zone for even heat
• Disconnect hoses and drain outdoor faucets
• Flush sediment from your water heater and check the temperature
• Insulate exposed pipes and seal cold spots
• Find and test your main water shut-off
• Watch for signs of sewer line trouble
• Test and replace carbon monoxide detectors

Winter is coming. Your house can be ready.

South Dakota winters don't give much warning. One week you're raking leaves, and the next you're scraping the windshield at 7 a.m. The good news is that most winter plumbing and heating emergencies can be prevented with a little attention in the fall.

Pick one or two items off this list this weekend. Then, for the jobs that need a trained eye, like boiler tune-ups, radiant system checks, sewer line inspections, or anything that doesn't look or sound right, give us a call.

Mitchell Plumbing & Heating has been keeping homes and businesses in Mitchell and across Eastern South Dakota warm since 1990. When you call, you get a real local technician, not a call center.

Call the team at (605) 996-7583 (Mon–Fri, 8 a.m.–5 p.m.) or request a free estimate.