Winter freeze checklist
Frozen pipes split when nobody is there to notice. Ten minutes before the first hard freeze keeps your EDGE ready to call you in time.
Tip: print this page and tick the boxes as you go.
The checklist
1. Put in fresh batteries
Each EDGE runs on 4 AA batteries: up to 3 years on WiFi models and up to 2 years on cellular models, depending on settings, signal and temperature. Before winter, check the battery level in the app and swap in a fresh set if it is low; the app also emails you when the batteries run low. EDGE was tested working at -30 °C (-22 °F) on both alkaline and lithium AA cells. Below 0 °C (32 °F) the screen stops updating and says so, but logging and alarms carry on.
2. Set a low-temperature alarm a few degrees above freezing
Water in a pipe freezes at 0 °C (32 °F). Set the low alarm a few degrees above that, for example 5 °C (41 °F), on the room or the pipe you care about, so the call comes while there is still time to act. For a pipe in an outside wall or a crawl space, put a probe right on the pipe: EDGE Thermo takes two external probes, and EDGE Essential PLUS has a temperature and humidity probe on a 1 m (3.3 ft) cable.
3. Check who gets the alerts
An alarm reaches everyone the device is shared with, at the same time, by phone call, text, email and push notification, each person on the channels turned on in their own profile. Open the device in the app and check the names and phone numbers before the cold sets in. Email and push are always free; texts and calls use the alert credit included with every device.
4. Share it with a neighbour
If you are far away, share the device with a neighbour or caretaker who can get to the place quickly. Only the device owner can share it. With Premium, included for each device’s first year, you can add new people; on the free Standard tier, people already on the share keep their alarms.
5. No WiFi, or the power goes off?
A WiFi logger can only send its alarm while the router has power and internet. For a cottage with the internet switched off for the winter, choose a cellular model: it brings its own data link and keeps logging and alarming on its AA batteries through a power cut. On USB-C power, it also tells you when the power goes out.
6. Check it is online before you leave
Look in the app that the device is uploading and that the alarm limits are saved. If the device stops reporting for any reason, the no-connection email (on by default) tells you after about a day.