As Mother Nature begin to take the edge off the hot summer weather, you may find your house cooling off. It’s still too warm to fire up the furnace, but evening temperatures call for a bit of heat here and there. It’s space heater season.

If you’re buying space heaters this fall, consider some guidelines for getting the safest appliances:

• Select a space heater with a guard around the heating element. This will help keep children, pets and clothing away from the heat source.
• Look for a heater that has been certified by Underwriters Laboratories. Those heaters meet stringent safety standards.
• Buy a heater that’s the right size for the area you want to heat. One that’s too big or too small for your room is just more inefficient.
• Follow the manufacturer’s operating instructions. Read the instructions and warning labels out loud to everyone in the house.
• Keep children and pets away from space heaters, as some heaters have hot surfaces.
• Turn space heaters off when you go to sleep or leave the area.
• If you live in a manufactured home, use only electric or vented fuel-fired heaters.
• Place heaters at least three feet away from beds, furniture and drapes.

Also, keep in mind that each heater you plug in is going to raise your electric bill. That additional cost will depend on the time the heater is on each day. For instance, if you use one electric space heater for approximately 12 hours a day for one whole billing cycle, it could add approximately $70 to your electric bill.