Tips to Safely Heat Your Home This Winter

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

Carbon monoxide, as confirmed by the CDC, is given off by gas ranges, furnaces, fireplaces, stoves, and boilers so it only makes sense that carbon monoxide poisoning increases during the winter months when people are trying to warm their homes. To help keep your family safe, Air Engineers Service Experts is here with a couple tips to safety heat your home. 

• Install a CO detector on each floor of your home and change the batteries every year. 
• Keep all possible sources of combustion, such as paper, clothing, bedding, or rugs, at least three feet away from space heaters, stoves, furnaces or fireplaces. 

• Before starting a fire in the fireplace, be sure to check to ensure the chimney damper is open and unobstructed. 
• Do not leave portable heaters or fireplaces unattended. Turn off space heaters and make sure all embers in the fireplace are fully extinguished before leaving either heating source unattended. 
• Space heaters should always be situated on the floor, and on a hard, nonflammable surface, like ceramic tile. Keep children and pets away from space heaters. 
• When buying a new space heater, invest in a model that shuts off automatically if the heater tips over. 
• Don’t use a cooking range to increase the temperature in your home. 

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

The ultimate thing you can do for your furnace is to make sure it’s not only up to the task of keeping your family warm all winter but also safe, is to set-up your heating tune-up. During your heating tune-up, Air Engineers Service Experts will check to make sure your furnace is operating safely with a full multi-point inspection and cleaning. Call 904-450-5672 today and find out how you can save on a furnace tune-up through November 25th.