Use caution when heating your home

Weather forecasters are starting to use the dreaded “S word” again as winter approaches, and if you plan to make your home more comfortable or save cash by supplementing your primary heating system, be careful. Many alternative methods of home heating seem handy and appropriate, but they can hold hidden hazards. They must be installed properly, used appropriately and operated wisely.

It is especially important to avoid using gas ranges or ovens to heat rooms. Running your stove to heat an area is not only more expensive than other heating methods, it can be deadly. Any unvented fuel-burning appliance, especially gas or propane, can produce potentially deadly levels of carbon monoxide. This silent killer is tasteless, odorless and can overcome the occupants of a house or apartment before they realize a risk exists.

Never burn charcoal indoors as an alternative use of fuel. This may seem to be common sense, but numerous emergency calls, and some deaths every year, are caused by people who try to burn charcoal as a heat source or who think it would be fun to use the charcoal grill in the garage. But charcoal gives off deadly amounts of carbon monoxide, and even if the grill is in a garage, air currents can bring the carbon monoxide into a living space. The fumes can overcome and kill you. This is a special danger to children, the elderly and people with respiratory problems. Wait until next summer for those grilled steaks unless you are willing to keep the grill outdoors and away from open windows and doors or vents into the home.

On the subject of carbon monoxide: Get and install detectors. They are inexpensive, easy to install and often as important as smoke detectors. And while you’re at it change the batteries on your smoke and monoxide detectors NOW, before winter. Tell your children what you are doing and have them help so they will grow up seeing how important this is.

Mild cases of carbon monoxide poisoning produce sleepiness, headaches, dizziness, blurred vision, irritability and inability to concentrate. More severe cases cause nausea and vomiting, shortness of breath, convulsion, unconsciousness and death. The best first aid for carbon monoxide poisoning is lots of fresh air followed immediately by a visit to an emergency room.

Using excessive amounts of paper to build roaring fires in fireplaces can ignite soot and creosote in the chimney and lead to a fire. This is often the cause of house fires, including deadly ones that occur while the household is asleep. Never remove the fireplace screen in an effort to get more heat. It is there to keep sparks from flying into the room and igniting combustible surfaces.

Space heaters and heating stoves are helpful supplemental heating sources, but they too can pose risks. Take these precautions:

. Use the proper fuel for each device. Read and follow instructions.

. Keep at least three feet clearance in all directions around space heaters and heating stoves.

. Use a screen around stoves or space heaters that have open flames.

. Avoid using space heaters in bathrooms and certainly do not touch an electric one when you are wet.

. Keep young children away from space heaters, especially when they are wearing nightgowns that can be sucked in by a draft created by the heater and ignited.

Information on the dangers of products that might be used to supplement home heating systems as well as suggestions for their safe use and maintenance can be obtained from your local fire department, the company that provides your primary heating or the Consumer Product Safety Commission, www.cpsc.gov.

Consumer Forum is a collaboration of the Bangor Daily News and Northeast COMBAT-Maine Center for the Public Interest, Maine’s membership-funded, nonprofit consumer organization. Individual membership $25, business rates start at $125 (0-10 employees). For help and information write: Consumer Forum, Bangor Daily News, PO Box 1329, Bangor 04402-1329.