Yesterday, we covered how to preserve your house during a severe cold snap. Today we cover how to keep YOU safe. These are important things to know:

NOXIOUS GASES

● Do not use gas range tops and ovens to heat your home because carbon monoxide is a silent killer.

● Never use fossil fuel space heaters indoors.

● Do not warm up your car inside the garage.

SPACE HEATERS

● Never leave electric space heaters unattended.

● The soft red glow of the heating element can be enticing to children and pets, so take care to keep them away from space heaters.

● Also, be careful where you locate space heaters, keeping them away from combustible materials.

● Never modify the plugs on heating devices, and avoid plugging them into extension cords.

● Water and electricity do not mix, so avoid using electric heaters in bathrooms or other wet areas.

WOOD

● Only burn hardwoods in your fireplace: oak, maple, hickory, cherry

● Old furniture (even hardwood) should not go into the fireplace, as the finishes could burn too hot and cause a flue fire. This also applies to junk mail!

● Do not burn pine and sapwood Christmas trees, as they burn too fast and hot.

Related posts:

1. Surviving a Cold Snap

Learn the Art of Living at CallMosby.com.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 14th, 2009 at 2:13 pm and is filed under repairs & advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.