Concerns about high heating bills and long waits for fuel are a major issue for many households this winter. At a demonstration in Linz on Tuesday, the Upper Austrian Fire Prevention Agency (BVS) warned against using home-made stoves for heating.
These ovens include, for example, tea light ovens. In a tealight oven, several tealights are put together and lit, above which there is a kind of ceramic lampshade, which is heated by the candles.
With tools like these, many people hope to be able to reduce their heating costs. However: If you put the tea lights together very closely, there is a great risk that they will start to burn in their entirety after a few hours. If there is only a little wax left in the bowl, the wax and paraffin vapors would heat up so much that a large, overarching flame would develop, explained BVS expert Günther Schwabegger. If you then extinguish it with water, a flash of flame occurs, as a demonstration in the test rooms of the BVS shows – this can be up to one meter high.
Fire baskets and grills are also not recommended for heating the apartment.
But experts also urge caution with conventional heating systems: Ovens and chimneys should be serviced regularly. If a chimney that has not been used for a long time is used again this year, it is advisable to make an appointment with the chimney sweep. Because bird or wasp nests, sheet metal covers, etc. could lead to the fume hood no longer working as it should, warned Gerhard Hofer, head of the guild for chimney sweeps. In general, a fire alarm is just as advisable as a CO warning device.
Store ash before disposal
Proper heating of solid fuel stoves also needs to be learned: You shouldn’t – as was often the case in the past – put small pieces of wood at the bottom of the chimney, explained Christoph Angermayer, head of the potter’s guild: “First you should put large logs in the stove, then the smaller kindling . With special firelighters, smoke development that is harmful to health and the environment can be avoided.” Paper should not be used. And ashes should be stored in a fireproof container for at least a day or two before throwing them in the trash or compost heap.
Source: Nachrichten
