As the weather turns cooler, and the leaves begin to change, people begin to turn on their heat. This is a great time of a year to check your home for possible fire hazards, while at the same time making sure that your home runs at a high energy efficiency. Here are five simple things to check around your home.
1) Change the filter on your furnace. Have you checked it lately? I go through times when I change it regularly every three months or I completely forget for a year. If you forget to change your filter it can possibly cause a fire and take years off of the life of the furnace.
2) At least once a year you should check your dryer vent to make sure that it is not backed up with lint. We recently moved, and were horrified to discover that our dryer vent in the wall had about two feet of lint clogged in it. We are grateful there was not a fire. We believe this happened because the dryer vent goes into the wall about six inches and then has a ninety-degree turn to go straight up. It is not recommended to vent up. If your vent does this make sure you check it often.
3) You can vacuum the coils on the back of your refrigerator and freezer to save money on your electric bill. This is a fairly simply procedure, but be sure to follow manufacture’s instructions when you do so.
4) An easy way to extend the life of your vacuum is to change the bag on a regular basis. This may sound silly to those of you who do it anyway, but it can be difficult to remember to do it. If you have small children and vacuum constantly, you may need to change the bag once a month.
5) Since it is fall, check your chimney. You don’t want to cause any fires, and now is a great time to take care of this task.