With Thursday night’s low temperatures, many people turned on the heat for the first time.
News Center 7's Josh Jackson talked with technicians and homeowners about what they can do to stay heated and safe.
Technicians across the Miami Valley say they’ve seen a spike in business since Thursday night’s weather.
>>Freeze Watch vs. Freeze Warning: What’s the difference?
One resident turned on his furnace to get warm, but the opposite happened.
“Nothing happened last night and that’s the problem,” Dan Tepfer said. “We woke up this morning and it was cold.”
Tepfer said he felt lucky because a technician had his unit back up and running quickly.
Home equipment is the second leading cause of fires, so experts say this is the time of year to get units repaired or inspected to make sure there are no safety issues.
“Having the furnace checked every year is very, very crucial to making sure you and your family are safe and that sort of thing,” said Troy Dobbs, a McAfee senior service technician. “One of the big things that we do is check furnace safeties and make sure everything is working properly.”
>> TRACK THE CONDITIONS: Live Doppler 7 Radar
Another thing homeowners can also do to prevent problems is keep the filters clean and have detectors.
“You know there’s always the potential for carbon monoxide,” Dobbs said. “Another thing that you can do to protect your family is having a low level CO detector.”
Dobbs also said the burning smell you usually get when you turn on the heater for the first time in a while is normal for the first couple of times, but if it still happens after the third time, you should get a technician out immediately.