Home heaters cranked up for the first time in months are failing

TAMPA - This week might have been the first time you've cranked up your central home heater in a very long time.  It's also the time of year that fire rescue dispatchers get a lot of calls about weird smells and even smoke coming out of those heaters.

Lloyd Mishkel of Lloyd's Heating and Cooling is a busy man.  He was in Lutz on Thursday to troubleshoot yet another heater on the fritz.

“We either have a safety switch that is bad or the elements have broken” explained Mishkel examining the unit in the hallway of the Hernandez Family.

Homeowner Chino Hernandez and his two children were let down by their system when they needed it most.

“We slept the whole night with no heat. It got to about 60 degrees here in the house,” said Hernandez.

Many Florida homeowners turned on their heaters during this brief cold snap and were met with a burning smell.  Lloyd Misckel says that's not as dangerous as it seems.

“If it trips the breaker, then you need to call a service representative and get somebody out. But typical smell? That's just the dust and dirt being burned off,” said Misckel.

The bigger danger when the weather changes are space heaters.  Each year, fires are started when space heaters are left too close to flammable sheets, newspapers, wallpaper or other combustible material.

Hillsborough Fire Rescue Spokesman Ray Yeakley says space heaters need at least three feet of space.

“Kids, animals, anything that can knock those things over or get too close and catch fire”.

If your rarely used fireplace is putting out a musty or sooty odor, it's time to call a Chimney sweep.

“They'll check to make sure you've got a screen over the top of it to prevent sparks, make sure anything that's built a nest in there is being cleaned out and then of course, creosote is something that can catch fire and cause a chimney fire. Routine maintenance will to prevent that from happening” says Yeakley.

The best back-up defense against a tragic fire this winter or anytime is having working smoke detectors in every room of your home.