Our beloved home heating systems do a wonderful job of keeping our homes nice and cozy and safe when they’re running correctly and we use them properly. However, when it comes to any kind of fuel-burning appliance, furnaces can encounter problems that can pose health and safety concerns in a home if homeowners don’t take the necessary precautions and utilize preventative seasonal maintenance.
In order to encourage holiday safety and help homeowners keep their homes as safe as possible this winter, our team here at Springfield Heating & Cooling put together the following list of furnace safety tips:
Keep Your Clark County, Ohio, Area Home Safe This Winter!
Don’t Neglect Maintenance
One of the unsung benefits of any furnace tune-up is the way a certified technician analyzes the system to troubleshoot for potential problems to see if it’s running safely and efficiently. During one of our furnace maintenance visits, our friendly, courteous technicians will thoroughly search for all sorts of problems, especially checking for any cracks in the heat exchanger or any damaged wiring or anything else that might pose any sort of safety hazard. Having utilized this service, a homeowner can enjoy reduced heating costs and peace-of-mind in knowing their home heating system is safe and ready to go for winter.
Test All Carbon Monoxide Detectors
Carbon monoxide is a dangerous gas, and is one of the most serious safety risks in a home; often CO leaks are caused by furnace problems. Knowing this, in addition to maintenance, you should go around your home and check all of your carbon monoxide detectors. Heading into another heating season, it’s important to guarantee they are all fully functional. If the batteries in these devices are old or if you question how old they are, you should change them to be safe.
Check All Your Smoke Alarms
Furnaces are known to cause house fires. Knowing this, after you’ve checked all your carbon monoxide detectors, you should also go around and test all your home’s smoke detectors. Most homeowners know they should do this every year. And yet too many need to be reminded. Just like your CO detectors, homeowners also need to remember to install new batteries if the batteries are old or if they don’t know how old they are.
Keep Area Around Furnace Open
Maintaining an open area around your furnace, or home heating system, reduces the chances of a house fire. We recommend leaving an open space of several feet around it on all sides. Obviously, this means you should not store anything close to the unit, such as boxes, blankets or drapes. This is especially important to remember when it comes to anything that might be flammable!
Checking & Changing Air Filter
Dirty air filters can limit the free flow of air essential to a furnace’s needs. As such, if an air filter becomes clogged, it places strain on the HVAC system that is unnecessary, forcing it to have to work harder to keep up. Moreover, it makes the system more susceptible to carbon monoxide leakage while allowing dirt to gather on the furnace’s components. This can cause several additional efficiency concerns. As such, it is essential to check your filter every month during the winter and change it as needed.
Promote Furnace Safety With Everyone in the Home
This is especially important for those who have family members, particularly younger ones present. We advise taking the time to gather everyone and review all the relative furnace safety guidelines. If that’s not possible for some reason, you should at least put up a poster or note on your refrigerator highlighting the furnace safety rules of the home. Abiding by an established set of safety rules for your furnace could be the difference between life and death. You should include many of the items discussed here, or at least the ones that are relative. As a general rule of thumb, you should make sure children understand not to play anywhere near the furnace, or any other heater or source of heat for that matter. Keep everyone on the same page to ensure everyone knows exactly what to do in an emergency situation, such as a fire. Also make sure the adults know where the gas shutoff valve is for those who have gas furnaces in case there’s ever a gas leak.
If You Have Any Issues, Call Us!
You should never take any chances with any sort of fuel-burning appliances like a furnace or heater or any home heating system. It’s important to stay on the safe side and not to hesitate to call us here at Springfield Heating & Cooling if you have any concerns about your home heating system. If you have any questions regarding our list of furnace safety tips, or if you’d like your furnace checked, call Springfield Heating & Cooling today at 937-350-1881, or schedule an appointment now by clicking here!
