Winter can be brutal up here in the Northwest. Way out here, Winter is just no joke. If you aren’t prepared, it will simply kick your butt. As soon as my partner and I turn off the air conditioner at the end of warm season, we call the heating and A/C maintenance guy to come out plus tune up the oil boiler. We do not fool around– we want that oil boiler on point when the temp falls thirty degrees. And, that’s how it happens. It gets gently cooler through the fall, then WHAM, the next thing you guess it’s snowing. Every season, that whole routine starts up again. My partner goes out to cover up the heating and A/C condenser component to be sure the A/C is protected from the snow and ice. This is an easy detail several of our neighbors just skip. But, it is absolutely quite important to cover the outside A/C component through the Winter. This keeps ice as well as the snow from resting directly on fan blades. It also mitigates all the freezing over thawing of water on important parts. We have even had a large icicle fall on the condenser which could have penetrated the grill had the cover not stopped it. We add this component to the list as we do our snow patrol. While I’m out clearing away snow plus ice from the driveway plus sidewalks, we partner zips around the farmhouse. It’s important not to allow accumulated snow or ice accumulate on the condenser casing. It’s equally important to be sure that when Springtime comes around, the A/C is ready to go.