Home Heating Safety

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – Trying to keep warm in your home during Ohio winters can lead to dangers that are often overlooked.   

Thorne Plumbing Heating & Air Conditioning Vice President Jonathan Cranz listed some of the most common heating dangers which can lead to tragedies.

“One of the biggest things I see is using temporary heat like space heaters and kerosene heaters to try to heat your home if you’ve got a problem with your existing gas furnace or whatever your heat source is,” Cranz said. “And it is pretty dangerous to use those if they’re unattended. And then your primary heat source, it’s good to have yearly maintenance and make sure that equipment is working as it should by a qualified service technician.”

Cranz said that electrical heaters draw high amperage, which can heat their power cords and aging electrical circuits to dangerously high temperatures. 

“If you’re going to use a space heater, especially an electric space heater, you want to make sure the outlet that you’re plugging it into is in good condition and that there’s nothing around the heater that can catch fire,” Cranz said. “Some of the maintenance items that homeowners can do themselves is of course changing your (furnace) filter on a regular basis, making sure the furnace vents are free and clear to vent properly and just making sure that everything is clean up to par.”

Cranz suggests any home that uses wood or fossil fuels as a heating source should contain a properly working carbon monoxide detector to alert the occupants to the presence of the toxic, odorless gas.