Refresh your furnace safety skills to keep your family and home safe this winter
It’s easy to neglect your furnace even though it works tirelessly to keep you and your family warm during the colder months. Unfortunately, a lack of maintenance and furnace safety measures can put everyone in your home at risk of dangerous indoor air quality, as well as a house fire. In this guide, we’ll discuss some crucial furnace safety tips to keep your heating system working and your home safe for years to come.
When the furnace isn’t running during the summer, it might blend into the background. But as winter approaches, you’ll want to take time to clear the area around your furnace.
Since you’ll have the heater on more often in the winter, the outside surface will get hot. The hot surface is dangerous for little hands, pet paws, and nearby flammable material. Plus, clutter around the furnace can decrease ventilation and create issues with overheating.
Keep flammable items like drapes, pet bedding, and clothing at least 3 feet away from your furnace. Double-check that the area around your furnace is clear and well-lit so you can access it for emergency purposes.
If your furnace has been sitting dormant for several months, take a little time to give it some love before firing it up. It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to spruce up your furnace for the winter, and a little maintenance can go a long way. Getting rid of the dust will help prevent fires and keep allergies at bay.
Here are a few furnace safety tips for tidying your heater:
Use a damp cloth to remove all dust, soot, and debris from around the furnace.
Use a vacuum to clean inside the furnace as well.
Check the flame on your furnace. If it’s blue, you’re good to go. If it’s burning yellow, you should contact a professional for help.
During the winter, do a quick clean of your heater once a month to keep dust bunnies away.
Bleed your furnace before the start of the winter season.
While you’re cleaning, you might want to change your filter too. The filter in your furnace helps keep the air you breathe clean. Change your furnace filter every one to three months (do it more often if you smoke or have furry pets). Installing a new furnace filter on a regular basis can help improve airflow, decreasing the risk of fires and poor indoor air quality.
Also, never run your furnace without a filter. Doing so can cause an increase in irritating allergy symptoms at best. At worst, running a furnace without a filter can cause a buildup of debris on many parts of your furnace. This buildup could lead to premature wear and tear, and you’ll have to foot the bill to repair or replace the parts or the entire furnace.
One of the biggest concerns with a gas furnace is carbon monoxide poisoning. Gas furnaces use circulating air to keep your whole house warm, but if your furnace can’t get fresh air to blow the heat through the house, you could develop a build-up of dangerous gasses in the heater.
You can keep your family safe by making sure that at least 80% of your vents are open when the heater’s working.
Following the safety tips above, like regular cleaning and changing out your air filter, should keep your furnace in great working condition. But you’ll want to keep an eye out for a few warning signs that your furnace isn’t working properly.
You might need to hire a professional if you notice any of the following:
Hot or burning smell
The home doesn’t heat when the furnace is running
The heater turns on and off too often
The fan sounds like it’s running all the time
Your thermostat isn’t functioning properly
The pilot light is burning yellow, or it won’t stay lit
You smell gas
Regardless of the type of furnace you have, it can create carbon monoxide, which is a poisonous and odorless gas. Since this gas is so dangerous, having a functioning carbon monoxide detector in your living area is essential. Conduct monthly tests on your carbon monoxide detector to ensure the batteries are working correctly, and make sure you have at least one detector per floor, including the basement.
Change batteries in your detector at least every six months. Additionally, aim to replace your detector every five to seven years. Check with the manufacturer for more information on the proper replacement timeline.
One of the best ways to identify potential safety issues with your furnace is to schedule routine inspections at least once per year. You can have an HVAC technician check for proper functionality and safety, as well as perform a tune-up to improve efficiency and furnace longevity.
If your technician finds any glaring issues during the inspection, make sure to have them addressed immediately. Severe issues could result in a red-tagged furnace. If the estimated repair costs reach into the thousands and you know your furnace is reaching the end of its life, it might be more cost-effective in the long run to have a furnace installer near you replace your unit with a new one.
Your furnace needs fresh air to function properly, but many units are located in small, cramped, and poorly ventilated utility rooms. If that’s the case, either leave the door open to your utility room, or install door vents to allow air to flow in and out. You can also consider installing a fresh air intake, which pulls air from the outside in to ventilate your system.
The best way to ensure furnace safety is to schedule annual maintenance on your system. This will ensure that your unit is functioning efficiently and isn’t at an elevated risk of a fire or another issue. You should also ensure your utility room is properly ventilated and that the area at least three feet around your furnace is clear of debris. Finally, install carbon monoxide detectors on every floor of your home, and call in a professional if you notice any irregularities in how your furnace functions.
Generally speaking, no, it’s not safe to sit near a furnace. All furnaces produce carbon monoxide, even if they’re functioning properly. If you have a poorly ventilated furnace or utility room, or leaks in the exhaust system, that odorless, poisonous gas can leak out into the surrounding air, putting you at severe risk. You should plan on spending as little time as possible directly next to your furnace to reduce the risk of inhaling carbon monoxide.
Most modern furnaces made within the last 15 to 20 years should have some safety features that automatically shut off the unit if a problem is detected, but older furnaces likely don’t have these same features. Some issues that could cause newer models to shut off automatically include an increase in carbon monoxide production, poor airflow through the system, and overheating. Regardless of your furnace’s safety features, you should always take additional steps to protect your family and your home, like having annual inspections and maintenance done, and installing carbon monoxide detectors throughout your home.
