Fire department reminds NBers to clear snow from vents

MONCTON – The Moncton Fire Department is reminding residents should be clearing snow from furnace vents and heat pumps following large storms.

Don McCabe speaks for the fire department and says snow can quickly clog your home’s heat exhaust.

“We have drifts seven and eight feet high so it can drift in your heat pump, your air conditioning unit outside, your mini split type of thing or your exhaust vents for your stove,” he said. “We’re just asking people to go around the house and the things that are vented outside, clean them out.”

Tuesday’s large snowfall got Steve Perceski out in waist-deep snow to clear his home’s vents.

“I’m just digging out all the vents for my gas and air exchanger and that kind of thing,” he said.

Perceski said he experience the problem last year, when snow clogged his home’s natural gas furnace vents.

“It shuts itself off,” he said. “I got up and the house was cold and you know I went out and had to dig out the vents so everything would run again.”

McCabe says there’s more serious consequences of not clearing vents than losing heat. Clogged vents could cause deadly carbon monoxide levels to build up in your home.

“You could get back pressure there and you could get carbon monoxide exposure to your house,” he said.

McCabe also recommends every home have a carbon monoxide detector.