Gas burning appliances(Propane or Natural gas), take for example boilers, hot water heaters, furnaces or a gas fireplace, need regular annual maintenance.
Far too often the out of sight, out of mind habit of not having your gas appliances looked at until something goes wrong is most often the norm.
As long as the unit is working, we seem to forget the necessity of annual professional service.
One of the main issues we deal with in cold climates is incomplete combustion.
This incomplete combustion results in sooting and high CO (carbon monoxide) emissions up the flue stack (chimney).
Should something go wrong and this CO enters the building it is most often not noticed, as CO is a colorless, odorless gas.
Most often we can feel the effects ie, burning eyes, headaches and perhaps a slight odor.
For more information on CO please visit this link: http://en.
wikipedia.
org/wiki/Carbon_monoxide One sure way of noticing incomplete combustion is to visually inspect the burner compartment while the unit is firing.
Yellow flames instead of blue flames with a slight yellow/orange tip would indicate this problem.
As a precaution one would be well advised to have CO detectors on every level in your home, and most importantly near all sleeping areas in the house.
The best advice to help prevent problems is to have your gas appliances inspected by a professional on an annual basis.
Check your local listing for heating contractors to service boilers, furnaces and other gas burning appliances.