First heater use of season -- to worry, or not to worry?

[entrancedbymyGCC]

So it dropped from the 100s into the 60s and now the high 50s. I actually wanted to turn the heater on to take the chill off the house for the birds... but you know that dusty smell a heater makes the first time you turn it on? On top of that we have a new furnace and I worry about out gassing. So I have the office/bird room shut off with the vent closed, the window open, and the ceiling fan going, and I have the rest of the house with open windows and the fans running.

Everyone seems fine, I'm locked up with the birds (home sick today) and it all seems fine in here.... am I being:
1) paranoid
2) normally cautious
3) flagrantly risky

How many years of bird ownership does it take before you stop being worried about everything?

[Michael]

I end up feeling the exact same way. Nothing wrong. I'd say mine survived a few heater start ups... but always a good thing to consider.

[Rue]

Always better to err on the side of caution.

I always dust the heaters before we turn them on. That helps a lot. Central heat is kinda hard to dust though.

[Natacha]

I haven't used mine yet but I think it's getting close...

I'll give them a good clean (vacuum and wash/dust what I can) before I start them.

[a.susz]

we can probably crank up our heat in mid october-early november here

[Titanius]

I feel wasteful for using the A/C to fall asleep under huge blankets last night. It's getting nippy outside we might soon start cranking the heater. Honestly the whole house rattles when it starts up. I don't think there is anything to worry about though.

[Mr.Darcy]

we can probably crank up our heat in mid october-early november here

Are you just rubbing it in???

[a.susz]

yes, but we have 120 degree summer days so it evens out!

[TheNzJessie]

i wish winter would last a bit longer, its only the 10th day of springs and today almost killed me....

[rebeccaturpeinen]

we have a fireplace wich we use to heat up the house... is there anything specific we should worry about when we have it on? its a closed fireplace so no smoke or anything. there is one chimney that is ofcourse hot but Joey can not land on it and has never tried...

it is defeinitly better to be too worried that not enough....