How to prepare for the cold, stay warm as temperatures drop this weekend

You know that burning smell when you turn on your heat? That’s dust burning off from your system’s heat coils. You want to get the coils cleaned before you use them.

Another issue you may run into is the relay system in your AC. If you don’t use the heat that often, switching your system from AC to heat may burn it out.

You will also want to check your filters in your system to push fresh air and not over tax the motor.

“Man, the best thing to do is check your heat now,” Robby Eddy, the owner of Spectrum AC, said. “Everybody, check it tonight, check it immediately. Check your heat. If it doesn’t run, call out your local AC guy.”

Many people will use space heaters to stay warm this weekend.

City of Riviera Beach Fire and Rescue advised to only plug space heaters into an outlet and nothing else. Set the space heaters on a flat surface, give it space, and keep pets and children away from them.

“When utilizing space heaters, you have to always utilize safety as your number one priority and also utilize good common sense,” Capt. Dewayne Watson said.