If you’re having trouble heating up certain rooms of your home, you may consider getting a space heater. These are great devices that can help to supplement the heat in those rooms that you really need. Be sure to practice the following space heater guidelines to help prevent an unexpected fire in your home.
Keep Them Away From Water
Water and electricity don’t mix. For this reason, you must keep your space heaters out of any wet rooms in your home, including your kitchen and any bathrooms. You should never be touching these heaters when your hands are wet as it can cause electrocution. It’s important to note that you shouldn’t be using a space heater in your basement if it’s prone to slight flooding.
Plug Directly Into a Wall Receptacle
Nowadays, we rely on many different electrical items in our daily lives. It can be easy to try and plug a space heater into an extension cord or even a power strip. Neither of these options is recommended as the space heater can overload them and result in a fire. In addition, you don’t want to plug anything else into the same plug as your space heater. This could result in an overload of the circuit that the receptacle is attached to.
Be Mindful of Cord Placement
The first time that you use your space heater, you need to take a step back and be mindful of where you place the cord. It shouldn’t be in any walking route or doorway. You should never run a cord underneath a carpet or through an enclosed space as it can result in a fire.
Give It Three Feet
When placing your new space heater, you want to put it in an area that gives it a solid three feet of space the whole way around it. It should never be close to flammable items like curtains, carpeting, and even magazine racks. You’ll want to place your heater as low as possible in the room so that the heat rises and warms as much air as possible. Make sure that the surface is completely level so that the heater doesn’t get knocked over.
Install Smoke Detectors
If you’re going to run the space heater in your home, you need to have smoke detectors. This way, if a fire does break out because of the space heater, you can be alerted to it quickly. You should have smoke detectors installed outside all your bedrooms and at least one on every level of your home. You want to check the smoke detectors on a monthly basis to make sure that they’re working appropriately. Also, you want to change out their batteries whenever they alert you that they’re low.
Only Use the Unit When You’re at Home
You should never turn your space heater on and leave your house or use a space heater with a built-in thermostat that will turn on when you’re not at home. It’s also advisable never to run your space heater whenever you’re sleeping. You want to be fully alert so that you can respond to anything that may happen.
Make Sure It’s Got a Safety Label
Before you purchase a space heater, you want to ensure that it has a safety label on it. The most popular safety label that you’ll find is a silver one that has the letters “UL” on it. This simply means that it has been approved by the Underwriters Laboratories for safe consumer use. Some other safety labels include a certification from CSA International and an ETL label from Intertek. If the space heater you’re looking at buying doesn’t have a safety label, don’t buy it.
Check It Routinely
It’s good practice to check over your space heater every time you go to use it. You want to make sure that the wiring isn’t frayed or damaged in any other way. In addition, you want to make sure that the plastic housing of your space heater is not cracking anywhere.
Professional Heating Services
Central Air Heating, Cooling & Plumbing provides professional heating services to the entire Clackamas, OR, region. We also provide quality home energy audits, indoor air quality, plumbing, water heater, AC repair, installation, and maintenance, ductless AC, furnace repair, installation, and maintenance, gas fireplaces, and heat pump services. Call us today to set up your next service appointment!