Beware! Keep This Unwanted Intruder Out Of Your House

If Buffalo has taught us anything (besides being a good football team), it's that snow can come in bunches for a long time. Two years ago, we got over 40 inches of snow in the Southern Tier and Buffalo said "Hold my beer."

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This was a part of a conversation that I was having with some friends recently when we were chatting about the big snow storm in December of 2020. I remarked about all the snow and said "now add two feet to it and that's what Buffalo had." No thanks.

This year, we may not see any significant snowfall in the Southern Tier before Christmas but things can change quickly. High snow can be dangerous when it comes to our furnace vents.

The snow can block the vents and force your furnace to overwork and not run properly. That could also cause your heating bill to go up and with fuel prices rising over 40% from last year, that could cause a real crunch on your finances.

That may not be good but something worse can happen if carbon monoxide gets into your home. Remember that carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas, so you may not notice until it's too late.

How To Keep Carbon Monoxide Out Of Your Home

Here's some things that you can do NOW before the snow flies to help prevent carbon monoxide poisoning. Give you and your family an early Christmas present and get a few carbon monoxide detectors installed.

When the snow does fly, look for circular vented covers, white plastic tubes or the vented boxes that come out of your home. Make sure that the wind hasn't caused the snow to drift over the vents either.

Do you have a generator in case you lose power? Don't EVER use it inside your home including the basement or garage. You should also keep it at least 20 feet away from any door, vent or window.

The CDC has other ways to help prevent CO poisoning in your establishment.  If you still aren't sure, it's better to be safe then sorry. Open the doors and windows and (most importantly), GET OUT OF THE HOUSE.

Finally, it's a really good idea to get in touch with a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) company that you trust. Have them do a furnace and chimney check for you.

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