Every year over 20,000 people end up in the emergency room because of carbon monoxide poisoning. This odorless and colorless gas is called the silent killer because it’s practically undetectable without a carbon monoxide detector.
Carbon monoxide, as confirmed by the CDC, is produced by stoves, gas ranges, boilers, furnaces, and fireplaces so it only makes sense that carbon monoxide poisoning increases during the winter months when people are trying to warm their homes. To help keep your home safe, Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning is here with some tips to safety warm your home.
- Install a CO detector on each floor of your home and swap out the batteries annually.
- Keep all potential sources of combustion, such as clothing, rugs, or bedding, a distance over three feet away from furnaces, space heaters, fire places, or stoves.
- Before starting a fire in the fireplace, make sure you check to confirm the chimney damper is open and unobstructed.
- Never leave portable heaters or fireplaces alone. Power off space heaters and confirm all embers in the fireplace are completely 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 children and furbabies away from space heaters.
- When investing in a new space heater, invest in a model that shuts off automatically if the heater tips over.
- Never use a cooking range to heat your home.
- Have wood and coal stoves, fireplaces, chimneys and gas or oil furnaces professionally examined and cleaned yearly.
The ideal thing you can do for your heating system is to ensure it’s not only all set to keep your home warm all winter but also safe, is to schedule your heating tune-up. During your furnace tune-up, Service Experts will check to ensure your furnace is operating safely with a total multi-point inspection and cleaning. Call 540-302-8645 today and learn how you can save on a heating tune-up through November 25th.