COPLEY, Ohio — You can call it the cold before the surge at Hamad's Auto Repair in Copley.
As frigid temperatures invade Northeast Ohio, the repair shop is bracing for a spike in requests to replace dead batteries in cars.
"We get swamped. There's quite a bit of cars that come in usually for no reason except lack of maintenance," said Roger Hamad.
Hamad suggested getting your battery checked by a professional to make sure it's winter-ready, especially if the battery is three to four years old.
He said getting it inspected is usually free and could save drivers from being stranded out in the cold.
"You could be at the grocery store, come out to your car, and it won't start. It's lost time and a big inconvenience to have your car towed."
Another tip from Hamad is to really make time to clear away snow and ice from your windshield before turning on your wipers. It might seem obvious, but each year, shops repair many blades because drivers activate the wipers too quickly in frigid conditions.
"It's called the wiper transmission that usually breaks," Hamad said.
In addition, Hamad said making sure your tires are properly inflated is extremely important in nasty weather. He reminded drivers that they can find the PSI for their tires on a sticker usually located on the the inside of the driver's side door.
"With a flat tire, you're not going to go anywhere. You're stuck where you're at and you're gonna get out in the five-degree weather to change your tire," Hamad said.
On the homeowner side, there's another problem no one wants to face in the heart of winter: frozen pipes.
"When the temperature drops this cold into the single digits and you factor in the wind, everybody is in danger of their pipes freezing," said Jeremy McCoy, general manager for H. Jack's Plumbing and Heating. "We'll get probably hundreds of calls this week with frozen lines. Some will be simple and some won't be."
McCoy said pipes on outside walls should be insulated, and when temperatures hover near zero with wind chills, it's a good idea to allow a small stream of water to drip from your faucets.
"People are concerned about what it's going to do to their water bill. I guarantee the little spike in your water bill is going to be a lot less than it will be to have someone out and repair," McCoy said.
Something else that could help is opening vanity or kitchen cabinet doors under sinks to allow the heat in. However, If pipes do freeze, McCoy said there's something you should never do.
"What you don't want to do is go put any kind of flame or torch or anything like that. That's a recipe for disaster."
