Tips to Safely Heat Your Home This Winter

Each year over 20,000 people go to the ER due to carbon monoxide poisoning. This colorless, odorless gas is referred to as the silent killer because it’s practically undetectable without a carbon monoxide detector.

Carbon monoxide, as confirmed by the CDC, is given off by fireplaces, boilers, furnaces, stoves, and gas ranges so it only makes sense that carbon monoxide poisoning rises during the heating months when people are trying to keep their homes heated. To help keep you safe, Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning is here with a few tips to safety keep your home heated.

• Put in a CO detector on every floor of your home and swap out the batteries yearly.

• Keep all likely sources of combustion, such as clothing, rugs, or bedding, at least three feet away from furnaces, space heaters, fire places, or stoves.

• Before starting a fire in the fireplace, be sure to check to ensure the chimney damper is open and unobstructed.

• Don’t leave portable heaters or fireplaces unwatched. Turn off space heaters and make sure all embers in the fireplace are completely extinguished before going to bed or leaving home.

• Space heaters should always be situated on the floor, and on a hard, fire-resistant surface, like concrete or tile. Keep children and furbabies away from space heaters.

• When investing in a new space heater, buy a model that shuts off automatically if the heater falls over.

• Never use a stove to heat your home.

• Have wood and coal stoves, fireplaces, chimneys and gas or oil furnaces professionally inspected and cleaned every year.

The ideal thing you can do for your furnace is to be sure it’s not only up to the task of keeping your home warm all winter but also safe, is to set-up your heating tune-up. During your fall tune-up, Service Experts will check to be sure your heating system is operating safely with a total multi-point inspection and cleaning. Call 905-453-6700 today and find out how you can save on a fall tune-up through November 25th.