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Heating Safety Tips During Arctic Blast

GLENBURN TOWNSHIP — It may be bitterly cold outside, but business has been heating up inside Wayne Pisanchyn’s heating and plumbing office near Clar...

GLENBURN TOWNSHIP -- It may be bitterly cold outside, but business has been heating up inside Wayne Pisanchyn's heating and plumbing office near Clarks Summit in Lackawanna County.

"We can't take everyone, but we try our best, working late and the guys are working late again tonight," he said.

Pisanchyn has seen furnace and boiler explosions and said there are ways to prevent disasters like that.

"It's devastating what it does," said Pisanchyn.

Pisanchyn said there are many kinds of heating sources.

Here are some tips he recommended for safety:

  • You should know what you have and get an expert to check it each year.
  • Filters should be clean, parts in good shape.
  • Always keep flammable objects away from your heater.
  • Make sure you have a carbon monoxide detector in your home.

 

When in doubt, Pisanchyrn said, follow your nose. You can usually smell a problem with your heating source.

"An unusual odor that you're going to get from it. If it's just not right, you should call someone immediately. "

Pisanchyn's company is replacing two furnaces at Midura Sniegocki and Associates, an accounting business in South Abington Township. Both stopped working Wednesday.

The pipes in the building froze, but luckily did not burst.

Barbara Midura said these days, she is always thinking about how to stay safe while keeping warm.

"For 28 years I lived with electric heat, and I never had to worry about a furnace and last year, a year ago I moved into a home with gas heat so it's always on my mind," said Midura.

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