How to keep your home warm in extremely cold temperatures

GRAFTON (CBS 58) -- The extremely cold temperatures can be difficult on heating systems. 

No one knows that more than the people who work at K Komfort Heating and Cooling in Grafton. 

A message outside their business says, "I love being cold. Said no one ever."

Those who work there are doing what they can to make sure people are not cold inside their homes. 

"We expect a lot of call volume," said Slava Krol, Vice President of K Komfort Heating and Cooling. 

Older and even newer furnaces may have difficulty with the temperatures. 

"The furnace should be at 100 percent capacity, yet even with that it may not be able to keep up. Bottom line if your furnace is not working 100 percent capacity, probably you’re going to see the temperature drop in your house," Krol said. 

There are several things Krol says one can do to help keep their home warm. 

"What we want to try to do is eliminate as much as we can, the heat loss," he said. 

First check the filter on your furnace. 

"It should be white. If you see that it’s really clogged, there’s debris in there, gray or darker than gray like black, you want to make sure you replace it."

Make sure windows and doors are closed. 

"Close your garage doors, make sure all doors are closed. If you want to put something under the door frame to prevent something from seeping in," Krol said. 

Also adjust your shades or blinds. 

"On a shady side of the house, you want to make sure you want to lower them to provide insulation, on the sunny side you actually want to keep them open so you have sun coming in," he said. 

Krol also recommends checking the batteries on your thermostat, as well as carbon monoxide and smoke detectors. 

The other thing he suggests is to put smart or programmable thermostats on a permanent hold so it can't go in set back mode, where temperatures may be cooler when a person is sleeping or at work. 

"The key is to not lose the temperature so if you see that’s something’s not right, if it falls below, if it’s falling lower and lower, the sooner address it the better it will be," Krol said. 

Another thing is to make sure the exhaust and intake PVC pipes on the outside of your home are clear of any snow or ice.