If your heater stops working in the middle of winter, it's bad news. You might be tempted to try and tough it out, especially if money is tight. However, this is a bad idea. There are a few different reasons why you could potentially have a bad situation on your hands if you don't call for heating repair. Here are two of them.

Gas Inhalation Danger

When gas heaters fail, it's typically due to a pilot light not lighting or not staying lit. This is a significant health hazard for you and your family.

Gas heaters need to stay lit because they emit gas all the time. They only release a little bit of it, so when the pilot light is lit, it consumes the gas and you don't even smell it. However, once that pilot light is out, nothing is consuming the gas.

This can potentially allow the gas to spread to the point where it becomes an inhalation hazard for you and your family. Gas leaks can kill, after all.

Even if it doesn't get to that point, if a spark goes off in your home, it could potentially ignite the much larger pool of gas than a pilot light would normally ignite. This could be dangerous as it might start a fire in your home.

Cold Danger

The other danger here is that without your heater, you run the risk of being seriously injured from the cold temperatures. You might think that you can get by with blankets and warm clothing, but people die every year from being exposed to extraordinary cold in the winter. It's especially dangerous when you're sleeping, as your core body temperature drops. Trying to save some cash isn't worth potentially experiencing hypothermia or getting sick with an illness like pneumonia from breathing cold air all night and all day.

If you haven't already made up your mind to get help for your problem, you should start thinking about calling a professional heating repairman now. Chances are the repair won't be as expensive as you think, and it's worth it. It's likely to save you money over potentially having to go to the hospital for gas inhalation or from exposure to extreme cold, too. Don't put yourself and your entire family at risk by refusing to get the heater fixed. Call a professional and get the job done as quick as you can.