Every year over 20,000 people go to the hospital because of carbon monoxide poisoning. This odorless and colorless gas is called the silent killer because it’s essentially undetectable without a carbon monoxide detector.
Carbon monoxide, according to the CDC, is produced by gas ranges, furnaces, fireplaces, stoves, and boilers so it only makes sense that carbon monoxide poisoning rises during the heating months when people are trying to heat their homes. To help keep you safe, Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning is here with a few tips to safety heat your home.
- Place a CO detector on each floor of your home and replace the batteries every year.
- Keep all likely sources of combustion, such as paper, clothing, bedding, or rugs, a minimum of three feet away from fireplaces, furnaces, stoves, or space heaters.
- Before starting a fire in the fireplace, make sure you check to verify the chimney damper is open and unobstructed.
- Don’t leave portable heaters or fireplaces unattended. Turn off space heaters and ensure all embers in the fireplace are fully extinguished before leaving either heating source unattended.
- Space heaters should always be situated on the floor, and on a hard, nonflammable surface, like ceramic tile. Keep young ones and pets away from space heaters.
- When buying a new space heater, invest in a model that turns off automatically if the heater falls over.
- Never use a cooking range to increase the temperature in your home.
- Have wood and coal stoves, fireplaces, chimneys and gas or oil furnaces professionally checked and cleaned yearly.
The best thing you can do for your heating system is to make sure it’s not only up to the task of keeping you warm all winter but also safe, is to call for your heating tune-up. During your furnace tune-up, Service Experts will check to make sure your heating system is operating safely with a total multi-point inspection and cleaning. Call 561-629-1826 today and ask how you can save on a fall tune-up through November 25th.