Get set for some of the COLDEST temperatures of the season, just in time for hosting the family and heading out for post-Thanksgiving shopping!
A cold front will move through Metro Atlanta on Thanksgiving Day, knocking temperatures down from the 60s on Thursday to the upper 30s on Friday morning.
However, reinforcing blasts of chilly air will continue to blow through North Georgia, so despite sunny skies, afternoon temperatures will stay in the mid-40s through Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Then, bitterly cold temperatures will arrive in time for the beginning of December, and morning lows will dip into the mid 20s for Monday and Tuesday.
This is cold enough to potentially cause a hard freeze for the Metro Atlanta area, which means it may be prudent to keep the faucets dripping Sunday night through Tuesday afternoon.
With family and friends in town for this active holiday weekend, I spoke with 95.5 WSB’s Home-Fix-It Show Host Dave Baker for tips and tricks for safely keeping your home warm as the chilly air moves through.
Q: What do I want to know when I want to use my space heater around the house?
“When it’s space heater time, that’s a signal to you that you should get your furnace tuned up. If you have a maintenance agreement, then good for you! Otherwise you will need to get an HVAC company out to tune up your furnace because it is getting ready to work.”
“Make sure it is tuned up and ready for the cold weather. It will also extend the life of your furnace, so it will save you money in the long run.”
Q: When you turn on the furnace for the first time in a season, and it has that burning smell... What is that?
“That is usually dust. You haven’t used it in a while, it has settled on the blower, it settled on the heat exchange, that is the dust that is burning off of there. That is also officially the first sign of cold weather. When you smell that, you’re like ‘Oh yeah my furnace is working, it must be cold now.’”
Q: Is that something I should be concerned about? Is that normal?
“That’s normal, you don’t have to worry about that. If you smell it for weeks and weeks and weeks, then you probably have an issue. But the first two times it comes on -- nah, not a problem.”
Q: My upstairs is usually very warm, but my downstairs feels like an ice box. What are some of the ways that I can help regulate the temperature in different spots of my house?
“You can use something that the HVAC companies call ‘Zone Heating’. What that does, in your duct work, they will put little baffles -- and they will put another thermostat downstairs.”
“Upstairs, it will run. When it gets to the proper temperature, it will shut those baffles and force all the warmer air downstairs until it reaches the proper temperature downstairs.”
“Downstairs areas are generally cold, and it’s harder to reach a warmer temperature down there, but it will help in the long run.”
Q: I want my space heater, I’m cold!
“Some things to know about your space heater.”
“You should get a new space heater every three to five years.”
“Don’t store your space heater in the crawlspace, or from upstairs in the attic.”
“If you plug it in and it smells funny, no good -- get a new one. You don’t know what’s been living in it, you don’t want that smell.”
“Don’t use your space heater while you’re not there: Don’t leave it on downstairs to heat your office while you go up and eat breakfast or maybe run an errand. If you’re not there, it should be turned off.”
“There should be a 3 foot circle around your space heater of non-flammable things.”
“Only use the space heater to heat the space -- don’t use it to dry your socks, to heat up your cheese sandwich, it’s just there to heat the area.”
“You can get them with little thermostats on them that will shut off themselves, those are very good.”
Q: What should I know about electric blankets?
“Just got to be careful, it’s like the space heater only a little more super-charged. It’s got be UL listed, and I would probably get a new electric blanket every year or two. You’re looking out for electrical shorts and things like that, so turn it off when you are using it.
“Don’t use it with an extension cord. Don’t use it where someone can kick it out, because that can damage the plug or the cord.”
Q: Why should you not plug multiple extension cords together?
“You’re way better off having an electrician come out and putting in a new electrical outlets into the wall closer to where you need it than using extension cord after extension cord to connect a space heater.”
“That’s just not good practice. It leaves too much on the ground to walk on. And don’t put a rug over it -- just don’t do it.”