Top Safety Tips When Using Your Electric Heater

There is nothing better than an electric heater at your feet to take the chill off a cool morning as you sip a cup of tea. Well, maybe a warmer day would be nice, but the heat at your feet spreads to the rest of you and the room, so it is pleasant feeling. When you use that electric heater though, there are a few precautions you should take. And if there are others in the home who use it, then they should be aware of the safety tips to follow when using it so that everyone remains safe and no accidents occur.

 An electric heater should never be placed by a flammable source. Obviously, you wouldn't store gasoline in the kitchen or the living room, but there are a lot of other materials that can be flammable. How about that stack of newspapers that the heater is pointed directly towards? It could ruffle the papers so that they keep moving, moving and eventually, the corner of one is on the heater.

 It could start on fire and once there is a fire in any room, it spreads quickly throughout a house. Keep the area surrounding the heating device free from every sort of material, paper, cloth or other. Another safety tip to follow when using an electric heater is to not fall asleep while it is running. There are a lot of things that could happen in your sleep. You could kick the heater over if it was placed by your feet.

Once it is tipped over, it could start a fire on the floor or on any blankets that were down by your feet and the heater. It could even catch clothing on fire if it was close enough or touching. If there is a chance you will fall asleep, set the heater on a timer or turn it off completely. Keep pets away from the electric heat source too. A pet might be curious and get really close to the heater to see what it is all about.

A whisker, their fur or even a collar could become hot and start off a fire. And that is only if the pet doesn't burn their nose, tongue or paw when they are inspecting the heater up close to figure out what it is to begin with. Electric heaters should be used in a room with ventilation. Even though it is electric powered, you will want circulation around the device so it doesn't get too hot and overheat as it heats the room.

A fire is not what you wanted for a heat source. Children should also be kept away from heaters. If the heat source can be safely kept behind a gate or within a device that air can flow out of without the child being able to touch it, then that is OK. Never leave a baby or small child unsupervised by a heater they could crawl towards and touch, burning their hands, face or other body part.