Furnace Safety

It’s possible that where your furnace is, may be where you are trying to hide Christmas presents or where your Christmas decorations are waiting to be pulled out.  However, you may want to find a new hiding space.  Keeping items close to your furnace, especially flammable items can bring about a potentially dangerous situation.  Here are some furnace safety ideas that will help to make sure that your Christmas decorations and presents remain decorations and presentations:

•  The furnace area should be kept clear.  Keep about 1 ft in the sides and the back clear and about 2 to 3 ft. in the front
• If you have a furnace that exhausts in a metal pipe, make sure that nothing is touching that pipe from the furnace to the chimney where it exhausts.  This occurs on 80% furnaces
•  Keep top of water heater dust free
• Do not block a furnace that uses indoor air for combustion, otherwise it could create large amounts of carbon monoxide which is very dangerous
• Remember to clean or replace your furnace filter every 1 to 2 months
• Make sure that the pilot light for your furnace is blue.  If it is yellow, it may not be working properly and you should call a certified technician to help you remedy the situation

Schedule a furnace inspection, where a certified technician can make sure that everything is running properly and also where you can ask him any questions if you have any. With the holidays quickly approaching, the last thing you want is furnace problems!   Also check out these helpful videos, about keeping your furnace clear of items and more:  http://www.ffold.awcsite.info/ask-the-furnace-doctor.php