Tips to Babyproof Your HVAC Unit

The insatiable curiosity of the young, along with a few hazards associated with the HVAC system, are both good reasons to babyproof your HVAC system. The registers or air vents indoors and the outdoor condenser could be harmful to your child, and fortunately, they’re easy to childproof.

Floor Registers

A floor register or one that sits low on the wall is a significant danger. The child can pinch, cut, or wrench a finger inside the louvers. Plastic register covers don’t pose the same safety hazard, and they’re inexpensive at home improvement centers or online retailers.

Few toddlers and babies can resist dropping things down the registers, and they won’t discriminate about what. You can line the bottom of the registers with fiberglass window screen to prevent the objects from falling far. Cut the fiberglass large enough so that the top of the register will hold the edges.

As toddlers develop hand strength and coordination, they may be able to lift the registers, leading to falling or tripping hazards for the whole family. If your subfloors are wood, you can screw the registers down. If they’re wood or concrete, use sticky Velcro to attach them to the floor.

Outdoors

The condenser may not be an immediate hazard for the little ones, but it could be for any toys or objects he can throw inside it. Condensers have a large metal fan blade inside them to pull air through its coils to dissipate the heat from the refrigerant. An object that falls inside it could harm the fan blade or its other components.

Consider putting a fence around the condenser to babyproof HVAC, leaving a two-foot distance between it and the sides. It has to have adequate air flowing through the coils to run efficiently. The fence should have a gate or open easily for you to clean the area, and hose off the condenser’s coils.

Being careful about your home environment reduces the risk of many injuries, especially when you babyproof your HVAC. For more assistance, contact Rinaldi’s Home Solutions, providing trusted HVAC services for Orlando-area homeowners.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Orlando, Florida and surrounding areas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).

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