Tips to Safely Heat Your Home This Winter
Each year over 20,000 people go to the hospital as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning. This colorless, odorless gas is referred to as the silent killer because it’s virtually undetectable without a carbon monoxide detector.
Carbon monoxide, as confirmed by the CDC, is put off by gas ranges, furnaces, fireplaces, stoves, and boilers so it only makes sense that carbon monoxide poisoning climbs during the winter months when people are trying to warm their homes. To help keep your family safe, Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning is here with some tips to safety warm your home.
- Put in a CO detector on each floor of your home and replace the batteries yearly.
- Keep all potential sources of combustion, such as clothing, rugs, or bedding, at least three feet away from furnaces, space heaters, fire places, or stoves.
- Before lighting a fire in the fireplace, be sure to check to ensure the chimney damper is open and unblocked.
- Don’t leave portable heaters or fireplaces unattended. Turn off space heaters and confirm all embers in the fireplace are totally extinguished before leaving the area.
- Space heaters should always be positioned on the floor, and on a hard, fire-resistant surface, like ceramic tile. Keep young ones and animals away from space heaters.
- When buying a new space heater, buy a model that shuts off automatically if the heater tips over.
- Don’t use a cooking range to heat your home.
- Have fireplaces, chimneys, gas or oil furnaces, and coal and wood stoves professionally examined and cleaned annually.
The ultimate thing you can do for your furnace is to ensure it’s not only all set to keep you warm all winter but also safe, is to call for your heating tune-up. During your furnace tune-up, Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning will check to ensure your heating equipment is operating safely with a full multi-point inspection and cleaning. Call 403-279-5760 today and find out how you can save on a furnace tune-up through November 25th.