When temperatures drop below freezing, staying safe and warm can be challenging. All of a sudden you think twice about walking your kids to school, what to wear Extreme Cold when walking the dog, and wonder if you’ve done enough to ensure the reliability of your heating system.
For these and many other severe winter weather activities, preventive Extreme Cold action is the best action of all. The kind that can help prevent health and safety hazards from inflicting harm on you, your family and home. Here’s a handful of suggestions we’re confident you’ll find useful:
Heat Your Home Safely
No matter what kind of heating system you might have, the colder the outdoor temperature, the more it costs to run your furnace or boiler. And while saving money is generally a good thing, it’s not good at all when safety is sacrificed for the sake of greater economy. Accordingly, don’t use your oven to heat your home. If you’re using a space heater, keep it at least three feet away from draperies, bed linens, and other flammable items. Be sure to turn off space heaters – and, check that al fireplace embers are extinguished – before leaving the house or going to bed.
Dress for the Weather
Stay warm with layers of lightweight clothing and cover as much exposed skin as possible to prevent frostbite. Wear mittens or gloves and a hat to prevent body heat loss. Shivering is the first sign that you are already losing body heat, which can result in hypothermia. If you’re cold enough to start shivering, take shelter indoors.
Know the Signs
If you suspect you have hypothermia or frostbite, seek medical attention immediately. Symptoms of hypothermia include shivering, exhaustion, confusion, memory loss, slurred speech, and drowsiness. Frostbite causes your skin to turn pale and a loss of feeling in fingers, toes, nose, ears, cheeks, and chin.
Another way to protect your family this winter is take steps now to ensure your heating system is up to the challenge of the coldest days Mother Nature can produce. How? By contacting Anthony’s to request our heating system preventative maintenance service or to report any strange behavior being evidenced by your furnace or boiler.
