Winter Safety Precautions for Your Middletown Home

Home safety should be a concern when outdoor temperatures turn cold and you’re using the heating system. You can help prevent potential damage and reduce the risk of fire or exposure to deadly carbon monoxide (CO) gas by taking the following precautions to boost winter home safety.

Have the Furnace Serviced

To enjoy a safe and cozy home during the heating season, schedule a furnace checkup with an experienced HVAC professional. A checkup covers necessary maintenance as well as safety-promoting tasks like checking for corrosion and cracks in the heat exchanger, inspecting the electrical wiring and connections, cleaning and adjusting the burner, and testing safety controls like the high limit switch.

Test Your CO Detectors

Incomplete combustion in fuel-burning equipment can produce lethal carbon monoxide. You can’t smell, see or taste the gas, so having a working CO detector in your home is the only reliable safeguard against exposure. To ensure that you’re protected, install fresh batteries in your CO devices then test that they’re functional. Replace a device immediately if it fails to beep when you hold down the “test” button.

Clean the Area Around the Furnace

If there are flammable materials or anything that can obstruct airflow near the furnace, clear them away. Move any combustible products like charcoal light fluid, aerosol cans, paint or turpentine/paint thinner to a well-ventilated area far from the furnace.

Have the Exhaust Flue Cleaned

To ensure that hazardous furnace exhaust fumes can vent properly, have the flue inspected and cleaned so it’s unobstructed by debris and free of soot accumulations.

Protect Vulnerable Water Lines

Frozen, ruptured water pipes can make a mess and cause costly water damage to your home. To prevent freezing, shut off and drain the line to your outdoor spigot and protect it with an insulated cover. Indoors, install insulating pipe sleeves on any water lines that run through uninsulated areas like a garage, attic or crawl space, or wrap them with self-regulating electric heat tape.

To learn more winter home safety tips for your Middletown-area home, or to schedule furnace maintenance, contact us at C.R. Wolfe Heating & Air Conditioning.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Middletown, New York about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about home safety and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Guide or call us at 845-367-4482.

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