Tips to Safely Heat Your Home This Winter

Every year over 20,000 people end up in the emergency room due to carbon monoxide poisoning. This colorless, odorless gas is referred to as the silent killer because it’s virtually undetectable without a carbon monoxide detector.

Carbon monoxide, according to the CDC, is produced by fireplaces, boilers, furnaces, stoves, and gas ranges so it only makes sense that carbon monoxide poisoning rises during the winter months when people are trying to keep their homes heated. To help keep you safe, Strand Brothers Service Experts is here with a couple tips to safety heat your home.

• Install a CO detector on all floors of your home and swap out the batteries annually.

• Keep all possible sources of combustion, such as paper, clothing, bedding, or rugs, a distance over three feet away from fireplaces, furnaces, stoves, or space heaters.

• Before lighting 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 ensure all embers in the fireplace are totally extinguished before leaving the area.

• Space heaters should always be positioned on the floor, and on a hard, fire-resistant surface, like concrete or tile. Keep young ones and animals away from space heaters.

• When purchasing a new space heater, buy a model that powers off automatically if the heater falls over.

• Do not use a oven to increase the temperature in your home.

• Have all stoves, fireplaces, chimneys, and all types of furnaces professionally inspected and cleaned every year.

The ideal thing you can do for your heating system is to be sure it’s not only ready to keep you warm all winter but also safe, is to schedule your heating tune-up. During your furnace tune-up, Strand Brothers will check to be sure your furnace is operating safely with a full multi-point inspection and cleaning. Call 512-592-3072 today and find out how you can save on a furnace tune-up through November 25th.