Holiday Home Safety Checklist

With the holidays fast approaching, there is no better time than right now to go through your home and make some quick safety checks in your home. It only takes a couple of minutes, but those couple of minutes can save the lives of you and your family members! Taking the time to check on various safety installations in your home can also save you money and allow your systems to run more efficiently, using less energy to make your home safer and more comfortable.

Things in Your Home to Check before the Holidays

So, what exactly should you take a peek at as part of your holiday safety checklist?

1. Check your smoke detectors. There are many things in a home that largely go unnoticed from day to day, and a smoke detector is one of them. Taking the time to make sure yours work, however, is of the utmost importance. Get a nice, sturdy ladder on which to stand, and you’ll see a small button right on your unit that will usually have “test” written right on it. Just give that button a quick little push, and your alarm should sound. If the sound is weak or non-existent, you’ll need to replace the unit’s batteries or the unit itself. The same steps can be used to check most carbon dioxide detectors.
2. Take a look at any and all electrical cords in use throughout the house. Look for any signs of wear and damage, including fraying or cracked insulation. If you can see the wiring under the insulation on any cord, it is unsafe to use! Make sure that you don’t have any cords or extension cords under rugs or near any heaters, too. Also check your surge protectors and power strips to make sure they do not feel warm to the touch; if they do, they may be overloaded. This is a fire hazard.
3. Contact Neighbors to come and perform a pre-holiday inspection on your HVAC system. We’ll check everything from your thermostat, airflow, and filters to your heat exchanger, compressors, wiring, and more. This is a vital part of your checklist, and should be scheduled each year. One of the most important aspects of having an annual inspection of your furnace, air conditioner, and even your water heater is safety. For example, we will be able to discover a cracked heat exchanger on your furnace, which usually goes unnoticed by homeowners. The danger of having a cracked heat exchanger is that it frequently leaks deadly, poisonous carbon dioxide into the home!

Making sure that your family stays safe and comfortable through the holiday season is our utmost priority here at Neighbors. Modern HVAC systems, water heaters, and other systems today are complex and require the skills of our trained experts for service. Don’t wait another day to schedule your appointment before the season really heats up – Call on Neighbors today.