It’s practical. It’s cost-effective. It’s the world’s cleanest burning fossil fuel (used to heat over half of the homes in the United States alone).
In recent generations, natural gas has become a pillar in American life. Whether it be your oven, your water heater, your dryer, or like most Americans, your furnace, there’s a good chance one of your home’s appliances uses natural gas.
However, with it being the second leading cause of home fires in the nation, heat can swiftly transform to havoc if you don’t understand some easy rules. To keep you and your home safe, we at Delaware Heating Heating & Air composed the following list of gas furnace safety tips.
1. GIVE IT SPACE
As a rule, the smallest amount of space around a furnace should be roughly 24 inches. Anything that might be combustible, you’ll want to keep stored even farther away. Things like dust, lint, papers, rags, paint, clothing, boxes, and more are considered flammable. Use a vacuum to pull out lint and dust from your furnace area safely. It’s not a bad idea to do this at least once every month to avoid any accumulation. Tightly close any liquids in the room and take flammable chemicals somewhere else. Also, as a house rule, make sure your children know the furnace room is off-limits. Furnace fire safety starts with a sharp eye, so always watch for the hidden threats that could be sitting right beside your furnace.
2. CHANGE AIR FILTERS
Let’s face it. It’s easy to forget to change our furnace filters, or forget how frequently they need to be replaced. However, make no mistake; it’s likewise dangerous. Leaving your filter unchanged for too long decreases the quality of air in your home, and it makes your furnace work harder. This increases energy costs. To circumvent needless stress on your system that could cause added difficulties down the road, be certain to replace your furnace’s filter at least every 1 to 3 months. You even might want to increase the rotation in the wintertime to avoid the risk of a breakdown, which none of us wants to have to face during dead the winter.
3. GET DETECTORS & EXTINGUISHERS
Heat is a glorious thing during winter — except when it is the heat from a furnace fire. To guard your family against the dangers of a house fire, ensure that smoke detectors and fire extinguishers are in working order. Place at least one in the same room as your furnace. Also, remember to replace your detector’s batteries every year. The same goes for carbon monoxide detectors.
4. ENSURE AIRFLOW
When snow blankets the ground, it can shut your gas furnace down. That’s because the snow can obstruct two of the essential parts of your home comfort system — the exterior air intake and exhaust from your gas furnace. The most dependable way to keep air moving placidly throughout your home is to conduct a visual analysis of these areas after a big snowfall to find any obstructions. Clearing out these spaces when your furnace stalls will lessen the stress on the system and prolong its service life. Also, make certain at least 80 percent of registers in your home are open so air can flow freely inside.
5. GET REGULAR MAINTENANCE
When it comes to furnaces, being more proactive than reactive will always save you money in the long run. Don’t try to skimp on the maintenance. You’ll pay for it.
For all these reasons and more, have a trained expert inspect your furnace annually. When something goes amiss, and a furnace breaks down, a repair or replacement is no longer an option. It’s a costly emergency. No one wants to face that in the frigid cold of winter. Maintenance ensures your furnace will operate properly when temperatures plummet.
Gas furnaces are machines and machines can break down and cause serious harm without the right precautions.
For an appointment with one of our friendly service technicians, call Delaware Heating & Air today at 740-227-8302 or schedule an appointment online now at https://www.delawareairandheat.com/schedule-now/.
