Tips to Safely Heat Your Home This Winter

Every year over 20,000 people go to 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 given off by gas ranges, furnaces, fireplaces, stoves, and boilers so it only makes sense that carbon monoxide poisoning increases during the heating months when people are trying to heat their homes. To help keep you safe, BW/Cook Service Experts is here with some tips to safety heat your home. 

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

• Before starting a fire in the fireplace, make sure you check to ensure the chimney damper is open and unobstructed. 
• Don’t leave portable heaters or fireplaces unattended. Power off space heaters and make sure all embers in the fireplace are totally extinguished before going to bed or leaving home. 
• Space heaters should always be positioned on the floor, and on a hard, fire-resistant surface, like ceramic tile. Keep children and pets away from space heaters. 
• When buying a new space heater, purchase a model that shuts off automatically if the heater falls over. 
• Don’t use a cooking range to heat your home. 

• Have wood and coal stoves, fireplaces, chimneys and gas or oil furnaces professionally examined and cleaned yearly. 

The ideal thing you can do for your heating equipment is to make sure it’s not only ready to keep you warm all winter but also safe, is to call for your heating tune-up. During your furnace tune-up, BW/Cook Service Experts will check to make sure your heating equipment is operating safely with a full multi-point inspection and cleaning. Call 574-218-6404 today and ask how you can save on a fall tune-up through November 25th.