It is a cold, wintery day nightmare. 

The furnace goes out, leaving your home without proper heating.

With temperatures into the minus-40 area in the Humboldt region, ensuring that your home is heated adequately is vital.

Matt Niekamp with MNM Plumbing & Heating in Humboldt says that they do see an increase in activity when the winter chill takes over.

"We tend to get quite a few service calls on days like today," he explained. "Intake pipes plugged up, chimneys plugged up. With the blowing snow and cold, it is creating a lot of frost on the pipes."

While many don't enjoy frequenting the cold, Niekamp says that you can help prevent a service call by making sure your pipes are clear.

"Customers can check their pipes outside, the intake and exhaust that are coming out of the side of the house, make sure there is no major ice build-up on them," said Niekamp. "Chimneys on the roof are tough to get to at this time of year, but if you see a large chunk of ice coming down on it, make sure you contact a service guy to remove it."

"The other big issue that I find is with furnaces running more and more, check your filter. Make sure it is clean. When the furnace is running as much as it is, it can tend to cause it to overheat if it is plugged up."

Niekamp added that like your vehicle, having the furnace checked out ahead of winter is ideal.

"My biggest thing is, get the furnace checked out in the fall. Once a year, especially if you have an older furnace, it really helps to get it tuned up and make sure it is running over the winter so you don't have any issues on those cold days."

He noted that if you have an older furnace, it may be time to start saving up towards a newer model, as they are more efficient.

"Some of the older furnaces you are only going to be getting 50 to 60 percent efficiency out of them. Some of the newer ones you are getting 95," said Niekamp. "Furnaces can last between 20 and 30 years, but if you're getting up to that area, you definitely should be thinking of getting it changed out."

You can hear more from Niekamp below.