Give it three feet of room
Most space heater fires start the same way: something that can burn got too close. Curtains, bedding, a couch, a pile of laundry, a stack of mail. Keep at least three feet of open space all the way around the heater, and keep kids and pets out of that zone too.
- Set it on a hard, flat floor, not on a rug, a bed or a chair
- Keep it out of walkways where someone could knock it over
- Pick a heater with automatic tip-over shutoff and overheat protection
- Look for a label from a recognized testing lab, like UL or ETL, on the heater
Before you plug in a heater that's been in storage, look it over. If the cord is cracked, frayed or the plug feels loose, don't use it. That one's done.
Source: NFPA
Source: U.S. Fire Administration
Plug it straight into the wall
A space heater pulls a lot of power, more than most things you plug in around the house. That's why it should go straight into a wall outlet, never into an extension cord or a power strip. Those can overheat and melt under that kind of load. Try not to run other big things on the same circuit at the same time, like a hair dryer or a microwave.
Warning signs to watch for: the plug or outlet feels hot, the lights dim or flicker when the heater kicks on, or a breaker keeps tripping. If you see any of those, unplug the heater and stop using that outlet.
A breaker that trips over and over is trying to tell you something. Don't keep flipping it back on, and never open up the electrical panel yourself. That's a job for a qualified electrician.
Turn it off when you leave or go to bed
The most important rule is the simplest: a space heater only runs when someone is awake in the room. Turn it off and unplug it when you leave the room, leave the house or go to sleep. And keep working smoke alarms on every level of the house, especially near bedrooms.
If you're running space heaters because the furnace or heat pump can't keep the house warm, that's the real problem to fix. Rooms that never warm up, a system that runs nonstop, or heat that just isn't keeping up are all worth a look. Call me at (470) 999-7395 for a $79 diagnostic, and I'll get your main heat doing its job again.
