HOW TO ENSURE YOU HAVE A SAFE, WARM HOME THIS WINTER

In addition to a warm home, you have to make sure your home is also safe. Protect your home by taking a few precautions when you heat your home.

Did you know that home heating fires are most prevalent during December, January, and February? Plus, there are certain methods of heating that can increase the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning if they're not used correctly. So, to ensure that you maintain a safe, warm, and cozy home this winter, here are a few heating tips to follow.

If you heat your home with a furnace, hire a heating and air conditioning professional come out and inspect it. This preventative step will greatly reduce the chance of a heating problem occurring during the winter months when you need your furnace the most.

The HVAC professional will look for an assortment of issues with your system, including carbon monoxide leaks.

In addition, make sure that none of your vents are blocked by furniture or other items as this can prevent warm air from evenly flowing throughout a space. Remember to also keep your air filters changed on a regular basis to maintain clean air through the home and to reduce overall energy usage; a dirty air filter will cause your system to work harder to heat the home.

Whether you use a fireplace as a primary or supplemental heat source, ensure that your fireplace is professionally cleaned and inspected prior to starting that first fire of the winter.

The chimney's interior and exterior should both be inspected to ensure that no combustible deposits exist and that the chimney is not obstructed in any way. Request to be shown how to perform your own inspections in between professional inspections.

Once you are ready to start a fire, look around the fireplace area for anything that could potentially be flammable. Flammable items should not be within three feet of the fireplace at any time. Invest in a well-built fireplace screen — if you don’t already have one —to prevent sparks from flying outside of the fireplace and into your home.

More often than not, space heaters are used as a supplemental heat source for a large room or a back-up source of heat such as when the power goes out. Whatever the case may be, there are serious dangers involved with space heaters. In fact, 43 percent of home fires were a result of space heaters between 2011 and 2015.

To ensure that your home and family are safe while using a space heater, make sure the heater you are purchasing or using has the Underwriters Laboratory (UL) label on it. You should also consider a space heater that consists of advanced safety features like sensors that will automatically shut the heater off if it tips over or overheats.

Also, when you set the space heater up in your home, it should always be on a level surface, plugged into the power outlet directly, and nothing flammable should be near the heater.

If you have not yet had your heating system inspected this year, contact the professionals at Art Douglas Plumbing Inc. to schedule your annual heating inspection before the weather gets too chilly and you need to rely on your heating unit.