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Check Carbon Monoxide Alarm During Heating Season


Alter Wood-Burning Fireplace to Make it More Efficient


Even if you love the crackle and warmth of a natural-burning


wood fire in the hearth, you probably could live without the added cost to your energy bill. Sure, the flickering flames make you feel warm while you’re sitting


nearby, but wood-burning fires actually have negative efficiency. They emit little or no warmth to a room. And fireplaces are drafty, so they send warm air up the chimney. Wood-burning fires also can create particles that pollute the air indoors and outdoors and could poison the house with carbon monox- ide.


That doesn’t mean you have to close your fireplace up forever. In-


stead, try improving the efficiency and safety of your beloved hearth: • Close the fireplace damper when you’re not burning wood. This


will cut down on the loss of warm room air through the chimney. • Cover the front of the fireplace with tempered glass doors or


fireplace covers, which seal the fireplace opening and prevent room air from escaping through it. • Install a heat exchanger, which will circulate the fire’s warmth throughout the room. • Hire a professional to sweep your chimney and clean and main-


tain the fireplace. • Use artificial manufactured logs, which reduce pollutant emis- sions by almost 80 percent. • Replace wood with electric “logs” that you can insert into the fireplace, or plug in an electric fireplace instead of burning wood.


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Heating season is a good time to make sure the carbon monoxide detectors in your house are work- ing properly. Or, if you don’t have any, it’s time to install them. Carbon monoxide is a potential byproduct of burning fossil fuels like gas and oil. It’s colorless and odorless, but it’s potently toxic, and can cause everything from diz- ziness to death.


Stay safe this winter by taking a few precautions:


• Install a carbon monoxide alarm outside of every bedroom. • Replace batteries in the alarm at least twice a year. While you’re at it, change the batteries in your smoke alarms, too.


• If you notice any warning signs that carbon monoxide is at harmful levels in your home—the air is stuffy and stale; condensation appears on windows; burner flames turn yellow; pilot lights flutter or extinguish—turn the appliance off and open the windows. Call a natural gas contractor to inspect the equipment.


• Properly maintain your fur- nace, boiler vents and chimneys.


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