As if the snow wasn’t bad enough, hundreds of thousands of people in the Puget Sound are now without power due to downed trees and power lines. Losing power for any length of time may not just be a nuisance, it can be a real problem:
- Furnaces can’t heat your home
- Food spoils in warm refrigerators and freezers
- Cordless phones stop working, and cell phones lose their charge
- Homes become dark and dangerous
- Medical equipment may not function
- Hot water can become a lost luxury and cooking may be impossible
Beyond this, home offices are shuttered, reducing income, sleep is lost, and incidents of illness, injury, theft and vandalism may increase.
If your power is out, we hope that it will be restored quickly. But even if it is, there are some things you need to know:
Open wood fireplaces can actually draw more heat out of your home than they add to it; The same is true of gas log-sets. Gas fireplaces, including gas inserts, wood stoves, and wood inserts provide effective ways to heat your home when the power is out. if you do use an open wood fireplace, be sure to check that the flue is open and clear, and watch for any back-drafting of smoke and fumes, especially if the fireplace has not been used in some time.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, “Every year over 600 Americans die due to accidental acute Carbon Monoxide poisoning. Over 20,000 are made ill and treated for CO poisoning.” If you are using propane or kerosene space heaters, make sure the area is well ventilated. And while it should go without saying, do not use barbeques or any other outdoor appliances to provide heat inside your home. Make sure you have a high-quality Carbon Monoxide detector, and that its batteries are fresh.
Every time there is a major power outage, we receive hundreds of calls from people whose heat stopped working when the power came back on. The cause is usually damage to a circuit board from spikes when the power comes back on. While most people protect sensitive electronics like computers and televisions from surges with plug-in surge protectors, they don’t think about the electronic circuitry in their heating system.
If your power is out, and you don’t have a surge protector on your furnace and/or heat pump, we recommend turning off the power to the furnace or heat pump at the equipment (using the switch next to the equipment or turn it off at the breaker) until the power comes back on steadily. In order to fully prevent damage to your heating equipment from surges, we recommend installation of an in-line surge protector on the equipment, or a whole-house surge protector.
The other calls we receive frequently during a power outage are from people who plugged their furnace directly into a portable generator. First, the power from many portable generators can dip and surge dramatically, and can damage your furnace if you plug it in to the generator without filtering the power first. Second, many people do not properly ground the power to the furnace, and damage it as a result. Using a transfer switch is the best way to ensure that your furnace, and the other electronics in your home, are not damaged by “dirty” power or improper grounding from a portable generator. Permanently installed in your home, you connect the generator to the transfer switch when you need it, and then power the desired circuits in your home through the transfer switch – simply and safely.
Better yet, while it won’t help you right now, consider installing a permanent stand-by generator for the nest time the power goes out (and there will be a next time). Standby generator solutions are among the most reliable, clean, and quiet units available, and feature:
- Fast, constant backup power, without having to transport and fill gas cans
- Noise levels at or below 65 dB (about the same as an idling car)
- True digital power supply for worry-free protection of even the most sophisticated home appliances and electronics
- Automated exercise cycles to maintain peak performance
- Industry-leading warranties
- A wide range of sizes to meet your home’s needs
Standby generators turn on automatically in the event of a power outage, protecting you, your loved ones, and your home. They can run on natural gas or propane, based on availability at your home.
Whether you need to repair your heating or cooling system from damage related to the power outage, you want to install a gas fireplace insert or a permanent stand-by generator, you want a transfer switch for your portable generator, or surge protection for your home or heating and cooling system, or if you just need a high-quality Carbon Monoxide detector, BelRed is here to help. Call us today for more information on any of these solutions to protect your comfort, health and safety, even when the power is out.
