Cold weather tips for your housing unit

Frozen pipes are the leading cause of catastrophic water damage to tenants’ personal property and college housing.
Please take a moment to learn how to avoid this happening to you.
Here’s how to maintain your unit during the cold weather months:

  • Do not set the thermostat any lower than 55 degrees.
    • For radiators that have a temperature adjustment dial, do not set the dial any lower than 2.
  • If you discover you have a frozen pipe, please notify Facilities at 413-597-2486 or Security at 413-597-4444 immediately. 
    • Keep the faucet open when thawing frozen pipes to allow water to begin flowing through.
  • If your plans involve leaving your residence for an extended weekend or longer:
    • Never turn the heat off in your unit, this could lead to a frozen pipe and catastrophic water damage.  Saving fuel is nothing compared to what a flood will cost you. 
    • Install a “red light” freeze-warning alarm that will alert our personnel to any potentially emergency low-temp conditions in your unit while you are away.
    • Open the cabinet doors under your sinks to allow for warm room air to flow inside.
  • Keep drapes and blinds closed, except when windows are in direct sunlight.
  • Put draft snakes on drafty window sills, between window frames, and against doors.
  • Check all windows and screen doors to ensure that storm windows are down.  Be sure all windows are closed and locked.
  • Keep garage doors closed.
  • If you have a washing machine, keep the manual water valve in the “off” position whenever you are NOT actively washing clothes.
  • If you heat with fuel oil, make sure the tank is full.
  • If you have a steam boiler there is a brief weekly maintenance that needs to be performed on the boiler which takes about 5 minutes.  If you are unsure about what you should be doing, contact Sharon Marceau.