Weekly Maintenance for your Home

November – Week 44

Just like preventative maintenance on your car, if you take care of a few small items around the house every week, you can avoid many emergency breakdowns and expensive repairs.

CHECKING BASEBOARD HEATERS FOR SAFETY early in the heating season is important because furniture tends to move and it is important to maintain good clearances from those hot heaters. Generally you should keep things about a foot or more away from the heater, but the real test is to turn the heat way up so that the baseboard will work full blast, then about 10 minutes later, put your hand on any object that is near the heater. This will tell you if it is getting dangerously hot or not. The type of surface, the height from the floor and the nature of the open space between the heater and the object can all influence just how hot it may get. Once you figure out the appropriate distances, you will want to keep the furniture that far away, maybe even put markers like tape on the floor under the feet of the furniture. Remember, sofas and end tables tend to walk by themselves, so keep this in mind throughout the heating season.

Curtains should be at least 6 inches above or in front of the baseboard heaters. If you see any beginning signs of scorching on the curtains, immediately move them. If they have previously been seriously scorched, change them as scorched material can catch on fire more easily than un-scorched material. It is kind of like the first steps towards a flame have already started.

By the way, the clearance for a wood heating appliance is far more than for a baseboard heater, and if the appliance itself doesn't give you a specific clearance rating, use the worst case rating of three feet.

IS ANYTHING REALLY COMING OUT OF YOUR EXHAUST FANS? Many exhaust fan motors spin and make a lot of noise, but with nothing coming out the other end of the duct. This can be because of poor installation in the first place, with either too long a duct or a rain hood that has a spring loaded door designed for a clothes dryer fan, not a small bathroom fan. Even fans that work at first can get into trouble with time. Birds build nests in exhaust ducts. If the fan uses flexible ducting and it runs through a cold attic, condensation can build to the point that a dip in the ductwork can fill completely with water, or mould. A simple check for some suction is to put a Kleenex up to the exhaust grill and see if there is enough suction to make it stick well. For lots of information on exhaust ducts, even how to build home made air flow meters, check the SEARCH tab above for "Exhaust Fans".