If your furnace has
stopped working, the thought may have occurred to you that you can
postpone the inevitable service call from a qualified heating
technician by pursuing "alternative" ways of heating your home, or, as
we in the heating business refer to them, "deadly
alternatives" Join the Air Comfort Q&A Man as he
takes a look at a few of these "alternative heating" methods.
It's little wonder so many "brilliant ideas" end up in the news
headlines - and obituaries - every winter!
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More than Just a
Range!
Using Your Oven to Explode Your Home!
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Q:
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If I turn
on my gas oven, and leave the door open, I can use the kitchen stove to
heat my house, can't I?
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A:
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WRONG.
Here
(to your left) is a Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel article from the February 24, 2004 edition: "Man Suffers
Burns from Explosion". The $15,000.00 this man paid for
house and property damage, added to the hospital bills from St. Mary's
Burn Center add up to far more than the cost of a service call by a
qualified technician. For the price he paid, this man could
have replaced his furnace many times over, with money to spare.
He is fortunate that he only ended up in critical condition. Many
such accidents are fatal.
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Kerosene to
the Rescue!
Your House is NOT a Campground!
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Q:
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What about heating my home with a kerosene space
heater? I use them all the time when I go camping, and those
things put out a lot of heat!
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A:
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Guess
again. Even a
properly operatng kerosene heater is not made for indoor use.
There is not enough fresh-air ventilation in a normal home to support
an unvented kerosene heater. Poisonous gases will build up, the
oxygen in your home will deplete, and you and your family will be
featured on the 10 o'clock news. Posthumously famous.
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"I'll Fire
Up the Weber Kettle, Honey,
and We'll be Barbecued in a Jiffy!"
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Q:
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Charcoal
Grills are safe enough to cook on. Why can't they work to heat a
home in an emergency?
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A:
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Don't
even THINK about
it! Home charcoal grills, even the propane-fired gas grills,
produce poisonous Carbon Monoxide fumes and deplete the home's oxygen
supply as well. So, even if the hazardous heat from the warm glow
of burning charcoal briquets doesn't set your house on fire, your
family will still be in danger of fatal fumes. Talk about "more
for your money"!!
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Electric
Quartz Heaters: An Expensive Fire Hazard in Every Room!
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Q:
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I have
lots of electric Quartz radiant space heaters (you know, the red-hot
glowing kind). Placed strategically
around the home, they could heat the entire house, couldn't they?
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A:
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ABSOLUTELY
NOT! Because of the intensity
of the heat, a radiant space heater is capable of melting or igniting
objects (and small pets) from a distance - up to 2 or 3 feet - without
any physical contact. Add to that the possibility of the units
being unknowingly tipped over. The electrical cost of running a
1500-watt heating appliance non-stop in every room is
excruciating. And what
about the natural curiosity of small children? Radiant space
heaters are a very costly alternative to a properly-maintained furnace.
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Consider ALL the
costs and dangers of the "alternatives". Don't turn your home
into a "reality show". Don't make extra work for your community's
firefighters. Stay out of the news. Call 414/778-4190 for
24-hour service for non-working furnaces, or 414/778-5680 to make an
appointment for preventive maintenance.
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call us at 414/778-4180 today!
You can leave us e-mail,
or write to us at
Air Comfort Systems, Inc.
635 South 70th Street
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53214
To arrange a FREE in-home estimate
for new
equipment, or for further information about us or any of the many home
comfort services we offer, please leave us an e-mail
message, leave your mailing
address and/or phone number, and our representative will be calling you
within the next business day.
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