A space heater is the quickest way to warm one room without running the whole house, and it is also the appliance most likely to start a fire while you are not looking at it. The National Fire Protection Association puts space heaters at about 43 percent of home heating fires and 85 percent of heating fire deaths. Almost all of that comes down to where the heater sits, how long it is left running, and what is plugged into it. Do you know what is standing next to your space heater tonight?
What actually goes wrong
Fire
A heater left unattended, or standing too close to curtains, bedding, clothing or furniture, can ignite what is around it. The heater can be in perfect working order and the risk still exists: leaving it running overnight, or putting it in a crowded room with soft things nearby, is enough.
Carbon monoxide
Fuel-powered heaters, kerosene and propane, produce carbon monoxide, an odorless, colorless gas that makes people seriously ill and can kill. A room with one running needs real ventilation, and the exhaust path has to be clear.
Electrical fires
Old heaters, damaged cords and overloaded circuits overheat and short-circuit. Faulty wiring turns into a fire quickly, and an extension cord that is not up to the load is the usual culprit.
How to use one without the risk
Read the instructions first. The manufacturer's sheet has the recommended use, maintenance and clearances for that model. Follow it. Put it somewhere stable. Flat surface, unlikely to be knocked over, at least three feet from anything that burns: blankets, clothing, paper, curtains. Never in a hallway or a busy path. Heaters with a tip-over switch shut off if they fall; if yours has no such switch, stand it somewhere it genuinely cannot be bumped. Never leave it running. Not while you are out of the room, not while you are asleep, not while you leave the house. Turn it off before you go to bed. A timer or automatic shut-off function is worth paying for if you want heat at night. Ventilate fuel-powered models. Never use a fuel heater indodoors unless it is designed for indoor use, never in a small closed room, and make sure the vent pipe or exhaust is clear. Fit a carbon monoxide detector in any room where one runs. Inspect it before every use. Frayed cords, rust, damage to the heating element, dust and debris built up on the unit. Any of those, turn it off and have it looked at. Strange smells and electrical faults are not something to run through one more night. Plug it into the wall. Space heaters draw a lot of power. An extension cord can overheat under that load and start a fire, so plug directly into a wall outlet. If the outlet is too far away, have another one installed rather than stretching a cord across the room.
Check these before the first night of use
The cord. No cracks, no bare wire, no scorch marks, no kink where it was wound up over the summer. A damaged cord is the one fault you can see, and it is enough on its own. The grill and intake. Dust and lint off the heating element and out of the air intake. Both burn off on first use and smell like trouble even when nothing is wrong. The outlet. Warm to the touch, discoloured, or buzzing while the heater runs means the circuit is working too hard. Move it, or have another outlet installed rather than living with it. The shut-offs. Tip-over and overheat switches are the two that matter. Test each once, so you know they work before the night you need them. The room. A working carbon monoxide detector anywhere a fuel heater runs, and a smoke alarm with a live battery in the hall outside the door.
If a heater does start a fire
Get everyone out of the house and call 911 while the fire is still burning. Nothing in the house is worth waiting for. Contact your insurance provider to open the claim. Call a fire restoration service. We assess the damage, remove the smoke and soot, and put the property back to pre-loss condition.
Warm, safely
February in Connecticut is a good reason to want heat in one room. Give the heater clear space, keep it attended by you rather than by the room, and it will do its job. If fire damage does happen, JP Maguire responds 24 hours a day on 877-576-2484.
Where to go from here
If this is happening in your house right now, these are the pages Connecticut homeowners reach for, each one saying what the work involves and how to get a crew rolling: water damage restoration. Water extraction, drying, then the rebuild. fire damage restoration. Soot, smoke odour, and putting the rooms back. mold remediation. Finding it, containing it, and removing it properly. storm damage restoration. Wind damage, fallen trees, emergency tarping. burst pipe repair. Stopping the leak, then repairing what it reached. 24/7 emergency restoration. A person on the phone, any hour of the night.
Also from the blog: Candles, Not Just Trees, the Overlooked Cause of December House Fires, Fire Safety After a House Fire, What to Do in the First 24 Hours and More on fire damage restoration.