The furnaces in our homes do an incredible job of keeping us cozy and safe during the winter, as long as they are running correctly and everyone is abiding by the appropriate safety precautions. As with any fuel-burning appliance, furnaces can run into problems that can become health and safety concerns if homeowners don’t understand these precautions and keep up on preventative maintenance.
In order to promote holiday safety and encourage homeowners to keep their homes as safe as possible this winter, our certified HVAC technicians at Westerville Air Conditioning & Heating composed the following list of furnace safety tips:
Making Your Franklin County, Ohio, Area Home Safe This Winter!
It’s Never Too Late For Furnace Maintenance
Among the many advantages of a furnace tune-up, there’s nothing like having a certified HVAC technician probe all the components of your system to find potential problems and make sure it’s running safely and efficiently heading into winter. During a preventative maintenance visit, we are sure to thoroughly search for all types of issues, especially investigating heat exchangers looking for cracks and electrical components for burnt, frayed or damaged wiring. There are many things we look at to see if anything could pose a safety hazard. By utilizing this worthwhile service, you can enjoy lower heating bills, peace-of-mind and confidence in your home heating system this winter.
Keep A Safe Distance Around Furnace
Keeping the area around your furnace, or home heating system, open and free reduces the chances of a house fire. We suggest, as a rule of thumb, leaving an open space of several feet around your furnace on all sides. Obviously, this means you should not store anything close to the unit, such as boxes, drapes or blankets. This is particularly important to remember when it comes to anything that might be flammable such as fuel or paint!
Check Your Carbon Monoxide Detectors
Carbon monoxide is a dangerous gas, and when it leaks it can be one of the most serious safety risks in a home. Frequently, carbon monoxide leaks are caused by furnace malfunctions. Understanding this, in addition to keeping up with maintenance, you should also go around your home and test all of your carbon monoxide detectors. Heading into winter, it’s imperative to guarantee each one of them is fully operational and ready to go. If the batteries in these detectors are old or if you aren’t certain how old they are, you should go ahead and change them to be safe.
Test Smoke Alarms
Furnaces are all-too-often the causes for many home fires. Realizing this, once you’ve gone around and checked all your carbon monoxide detectors, you need to also go around and test all your home’s smoke alarms. Homeowners know they need to do this every year. And despite this, far too many have to be reminded. Similar to your CO detectors, also remember to install new batteries if they are old or if you don’t remember when you replaced them last.
Air Filters Need Replaced Monthly
Dirty air filters can block or curb the free flow of air that is so essential to a furnace’s performance. When air filters are clogged, it places stress on the HVAC system that is needless and harmful as it forces the furnace to have to strive harder to keep the home warm. Furthermore, it makes the system more likely to develop a carbon monoxide leak while permitting dirt to gather on the furnace’s various parts and systems. This often leads to additional efficiency problems and reduces the system’s lifespan. As such, it is crucial to check your furnace’s air filter at least once a month during the winter and change it nearly as often.
Establish Furnace Safety Rules With Everyone
This tip is particularly important for those who have family members, least of all younger ones present in the home. Please take the time to get everyone together and review all the relative furnace safety guidelines to keep your home safe this winter. Making sure everyone abides by a clearly defined set of safety rules could prevent a fire this winter. It’d be a good idea to include many of the items discussed here, or at least the ones that are relative to your home. As a general rule, make sure children understand not to play anywhere near the furnace, or any other heater or source of heat for that matter; it’s best to keep them out of that room altogether. Going over the rules and guidelines will ensure everyone on the same page understands exactly what to do in an emergency situation, like a fire. Also make sure everyone knows where the gas shutoff valve is for homeowners who have gas furnaces in case there’s a gas leak.
Call Us If You Ever Have Concerns!
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 Westerville Air Conditioning & Heating 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 Westerville Air Conditioning & Heating today at 614-810-0075, or schedule an appointment now by clicking here!
