Room heater and blower safety: distance, socket, night use and carbon monoxide

The first cold mornings have reached north and central India, and in many homes the room heater has come out of the cupboard. Most of us plug it in and forget it. A fire officer in Srinagar told the press that fire cases rise sharply in winter, and that the root cause is the excessive and sometimes careless use of heating devices. That is Kashmir, but the habits are the same in a flat in Delhi, Lucknow or Pune. This page is a plain checklist for blower heaters, fan heaters, oil-filled radiators and rod heaters, with a separate section for anything that burns fuel, because that is a different danger. Checked 4 November 2026.

In short

• Keep a metre clear. Nothing that can burn, such as curtains, bedding, clothes, newspapers or a spray can, within about one metre of the heater. The US Fire Administration says 3 feet, which is a little under a metre.
• Plug it straight into a wall socket and nothing else into that socket. The Delhi Fire Service sheet says one socket for one appliance. A heater and an extension board are a poor match.
• Switch it off when you leave the room and before you sleep. Fire officers say the same, and the India Meteorological Department’s cold wave advice is to turn heaters off when not needed.
• Buy an ISI-marked heater and read the ‘Do not cover’ warning. Replace a cord or plug that is damaged.
• A flame is a different matter. A gas or LPG heater, an angithi, a sigri or a kerosene stove gives off carbon monoxide. Never run one in a closed room, and never while you sleep. A plain electric heater does not burn fuel, so it does not make carbon monoxide.
• If it catches fire, cut the power if you can do it safely, do not throw water, get out and dial 101.

Where to put it

The US Fire Administration’s advice is simple: keep anything that can burn at least 3 feet away from every heat source, and turn space heaters off when you leave the room or go to bed. We use one metre, which is easier to picture. The Delhi Fire Service’s residential precautions say papers, clothes and flammable liquids should be kept away from heaters, stoves and open choolahs, and that a spray can should never be left on or near a heater.

The numbers behind this come from the United States, where the data is kept. FEMA’s heater safety video says portable heater fires peak in January, most start because the heater is too close to something that burns, and 38 per cent of them begin in bedrooms, with bedding the first thing to catch. No Indian figure that separates heater fires from other fires was found in the sources reviewed, so please read those percentages as a warning about habits and not as an Indian statistic.

• Put it on a flat, hard floor, not on a bed, a sofa or deep carpet. This is our advice, not a quoted rule.
• Do not drape anything over it. The BIS standard for room heaters, IS 302 (Part 2/Sec 30), makes most heaters carry the words ‘Do not cover’ and a warning that covering one can overheat it. The few exceptions include heaters made to dry clothes, so an ordinary heater is not a clothes airer.
• The same standard tells makers to say the heater must not sit directly below a socket outlet, and must not be used in the immediate surroundings of a bath or shower. Keep it out of the bathroom.
• Children and older people: the Delhi Fire Service says never leave children alone near an open fire, heater or kitchen, and put a screen so that a child cannot crawl onto or touch the hot parts. The BIS standard itself says it does not cover use by young children or infirm persons without supervision.

What it plugs into

A heater is one of the heaviest loads in a home, so the wiring matters as much as the heater. The Delhi Fire Service’s electrical do’s and don’ts are worth following to the letter: use ISI-certified appliances, one socket for one appliance, replace broken plugs and switches, keep wires away from hot and wet surfaces, do not run wires under carpets, mats or doorways, and do not let cords dangle. Fuses and circuit breakers should match the rating of the circuit.

A little arithmetic helps. Divide the heater’s watts by the supply voltage to get the current. At 230 volts, a 1,000 watt heater draws about 4.3 amps and a 2,000 watt heater about 8.7 amps. That is our own calculation, so check the rating plate on your heater. Thin old wiring, or an extension board that already runs an AC, a geyser and an iron with a heater added on top, can overheat in a place you cannot see. The Srinagar fire officer asked families to have an electrical audit done at home and to use ISI-marked circuit breakers and wiring. Our pages on how a short circuit starts a fire and on MCB versus RCCB (see the related cards below) explain the warning signs.

• If the MCB trips each time you switch the heater on, it is doing its job. Do not tape it down or swap it for a bigger one. Call an electrician.
• If the plug or socket feels warm, smells of burning or has black marks, stop using it and get it checked before the next cold night.

Switch it off: when you leave and when you sleep

The US Fire Administration says to turn space heaters off when you leave the room or go to bed. The Srinagar officer said the same in plainer words: switch them off or unplug them before going to sleep or leaving the house. The India Meteorological Department’s cold wave FAQ, which draws on the NDMA’s guidelines, lists ‘turn heaters off when not needed’ and ‘ensure heaters are regularly serviced’ among its carbon monoxide precautions.

If the room is too cold to sleep, the answer is warmer clothing and bedding. The IMD’s advice for cold waves is several loose, light, windproof woollen layers rather than one heavy one, a cap and muffler, and hot drinks, and it says not to drink alcohol because it lowers body temperature. Keep the bedroom door closed at night, as in our home fire escape plan, because a closed door holds back smoke if something does go wrong.

Gas, LPG, kerosene, angithi and sigri: when the danger is the air

Carbon monoxide is a colourless, odourless, tasteless gas that comes from incomplete burning of fuel in engines, stoves and heaters, according to the IMD. In a closed room it builds up. The NDMA’s 2021 cold wave guidelines say open fire pots may add to carbon monoxide poisoning and that there are many instances of lives lost in a closed room. The National Centre for Disease Control says to avoid burning wood or charcoal in an anghiti in closed, confined conditions, because it can be fatal. The Srinagar officer warned that LPG heaters can use up the oxygen and give off toxic gas, that many casualties are from suffocation, and that they must never be used while sleeping.

• The signs the IMD lists: headache, dizziness, weakness, ringing in the ears, nausea, drowsiness, and sometimes bright red lips or eyelids.
• What it says to do: move the person to fresh air at once and get medical help. If they are not breathing, call 112 or 108 and start CPR (see our hands-only CPR card below).
• Keep a window or ventilator open if you must use anything with a flame, and never leave it burning overnight. Our page on carbon monoxide from generators, geysers and angithis has the longer checklist, and the generator page covers power cuts.
• A smoke alarm does not warn you about carbon monoxide. If you have a gas or fuel-burning appliance in the house, a separate carbon monoxide alarm is worth fitting near the bedrooms.

Electric blankets, hot-water bottles and kangri

The Srinagar fire officer warned against the practice of using an electric blanket along with a hot-water bottle, said lives have been lost to it, and advised people not to use electric blankets. He also asked families to keep a kangri in a safe place at night and to store dry grass and firewood away from living areas, especially attics. The sources reviewed include no Bureau of Indian Standards rule or national fire-service statement on electric blankets, so his advice is reported as his. If you own one, our minimum is the same as for a heater: a certified product, an undamaged cord, and no hot-water bottle with it. Burn first aid is in our burns and first aid page.

Before you buy or switch on this winter

• Look for the ISI mark. BIS’s online record for IS 302 (Part 2/Sec 30):2007 lists convector, fan, panel, radiant and liquid-filled (oil) heaters among the room heaters covered, and shows a quality control order as notified and implemented from 17 February 2003. The order itself was not reviewed, so check the present position with BIS or the seller.
• Look the heater over. Check the cord and plug for cuts, cracks and burn marks, switch it on for a minute in daylight, and listen for rattling. If it is old and has been in a damp store room, have it serviced first, as the Srinagar officer advised.
• Dust the grille with the plug out. Dust and lint on a hot element is a quiet fire starter. This is our advice.
• Test your smoke alarm and save the fire brigade number 101 and 112 on your phone.

If the heater smells of burning or catches fire

Do not carry a burning heater through the house. The Delhi Fire Service says to raise the alarm, switch off the power supply to de-energise the equipment, and use dry sand, CO2 or dry powder extinguishers on an electrical fire. Never throw water on it. A small fire that you can reach safely may be smothered with a fire blanket (how to use one) or put out with the right extinguisher (the PASS method, choosing one for your home). If the fire is already at the curtains or the ceiling, leave, shut the door behind you and dial 101. The Delhi Fire Service reminds callers that the service is free and that you should dial 101 whatever the size of the fire. If you are caught by smoke, see what to do when trapped in smoke and how to leave a smoke-filled room.

What is not confirmed

The sources reviewed give no Indian national figure for heater fires, so the percentages above are from US agencies and are labelled as such. The sources reviewed give no official Indian ranking of one heater type as safer than another. The Kashmir Life report of the Srinagar briefing is dated 16 October 2025, and the electric blanket advice rests on that one report. The three videos below are official clips; title, publisher and length were checked, but they were not watched in full, and two are American.