Gas Fireplace Safety Tips for Your Home & Family |
By CFC Watch desk | |
November 14, 2021 | |
It’s hard to beat the convenience of a gas fireplace in your home. With the touch of a button, you can enjoy the warmth and glow of a beautiful fire with no firewood to load or ashes to clean up. But gas fireplace safety should still be on the top of your mind whenever you use it! Like any burning appliance, there are steps that every homeowner should take to minimize potential risks from the wear-and-tear that appliances experience over the years. Read on to learn more about gas fireplace safety and the maintenance or protective steps you can take to keep your home safe! Keep Up with Maintenance These yearly inspections are critical for ensuring the components of your gas fireplace haven’t deteriorated, loosened their connections, or built-up with byproducts of combustion that can lead to problems. While no wood is being burned, combustion is still happening which means your fireplace needs to be safely containing the heat and exhausting harmful gasses produced inside the firebox. Especially here in southeast Michigan and northwest Ohio, where the winter freezing and thawing period can be harsh, any chimney can experience significant masonry damage. No matter the type of fireplace you have, it’s important to have certified chimney sweeps inspect and clean them to avoid long-term issues! Install Carbon Monoxide Detectors in Your Home Unlike smoke, carbon monoxide is completely invisible and odorless. You won’t be able to tell if it’s in the air without a specialized carbon monoxide detector. Every home should have these installed regardless, as any gas appliances can leak it. At the bare minimum, you should have them in your home around the room where your fireplace is, and in rooms where you often spend time – family rooms, bedrooms and kitchens. Gas Fireplaces Doors Can Get Hot Particularly cautious homeowners can look at barriers that add additional layers of protection between the interior and exterior of the fireplace. This helps mitigate some risks, but heat will always find a way through. It’s important for any family home with a gas fireplace to spend time educating their kids on gas fireplace safety like staying a few feet away from the fireplace! Keep Flammable Objects Away Again, gas fireplaces can be safer than wood burning fireplaces, but they still pose the same risks as any heat source. The closer a flammable object is, the greater the chance of an unexpected ignition! Don’t Run Your Fireplace Unsupervised If you have children or pets, one errant hit could crack the glass of your fireplace while you aren’t looking. This could lead to leaking gas. It also exposes them to risks of simply being unsupervised near a burning appliance. Gas fireplace safety for ventless fireplaces is even more important. Because they don’t exhaust gasses out of your home, ventless fireplaces will introduce byproducts into the air throughout your house. Therefore, they shouldn’t run for more than a few hours at a time. They are definitely not to be run when you plan to leave the house or go to sleep! |
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