What Are the Electrical Safety Tips That a Homeowner Should Know
From rejoicing over your recent air fryer purchase to using a blow dryer to style your hair before heading to work, electricity plays a crucial role in all facets of our lives. However, it’s important to note that electrical short circuits significantly contribute to the prevalence of house fires, particularly as we become more reliant on electronic devices and continue to use older electrical wiring systems.
You need to keep an eye on the electrical health of your home either by hiring a professional or doing a good self-inspection. Here are the top tips that you should know to keep your home safe from common electrical dangers and damages.
1. Knowing the Warning Signs
You need to follow all the proper safety rules while plugging in or caring for the home’s wiring. Older wiring—for example, knob-and-tube wiring in older homes—may lead to problems and great damage over time due to incorrect alterations or frayed cords.
Be aware of odd smells around electrical units and frequently tripped breakers. If you see sparking outlets, flickering bulbs, or lights that burn out quickly, they can cause damage in the future. If you notice these warning signs, know you need to call in an electrical contractor.
You need to keep your ears, eyes, and nose alert for the red flags of electrical issues in your home. Buzzing sounds from walls, lamps, appliances, or wiring are not a good thing. Warm electrical outlets, light switches, or areas around your ceiling lamps can also be a problem.
2. Performing a Home Electricity Check-Up
Electrical Safety Foundation International advises scheduling routine check-ups on the power setup of every house. That includes all the things under your control, for instance, plugs, bulbs, appliances, and surge protectors.
You need to move and check from room to room to confirm all switches and plugs are working properly. See if the plugs fit snugly into the outlets and if light bulbs match the wattage of the lamps.
Confirm that the fuses are perfectly turned to the on position. Keep space heaters, electric fireplaces, major appliances, and AC units connected to the wall outlet. Make sure they are not connected to extension cords or surge protectors.
Check if the wires are running under rugs or up against furniture. You need to make sure that they are not pinched by nails, staples, windows, or doors. Cords need to be damage-free as well as intact. Make sure your appliances and wiring are not in contact with water.
3. Avoiding Electrical Overloads
In addition to keeping your eye out for electrical issues, preventing them from happening in the first place is the best route. Try to understand how much your electrical outlet can handle and know how to avoid overloading your system. Most outlets may handle between 15 to 20 amps of power. So, it is important to keep your eye on the power level of all items.
Overloaded systems can certainly damage the electrical health of your home and cause electrical fires. There are specific appliances that should never be plugged into an extension cord or surge protector. For instance, space heaters, pressure cookers, air conditioners, refrigerators, toasters, microwaves, curling irons, hairdryers, slow cookers, sump pumps, and air fryers.
Avoid plugging one extension cord into another and extending one power strip with another. If you do not have enough sockets or electrical capacity, make sure to contact the electrician to fix the issue and get proper wiring.
4. Reconsidering DIY
On several home renovation adventures, electrical alterations or repairs might stop the renovators in their tracks, and for good reason. When wiring comes into the renovation picture, contacting a professional to oversee and finish the project is the right thing to do.
When you are going to complete a simple DIY appliance project, such as replacing a garbage disposal or cleaning the oven, always make sure you switch off the breaker to that specific area of your home before starting the work.
Also, remember to unplug all lamps and appliances before making any simple alterations, even if you are just changing a bulb. Anything past this, you need to call in a pro so that you may avoid fires, shock hazards, or electrical wiring issues and keep your house safe.
5. Unplugging Unused Appliances
When you are not using an appliance frequently, such as a hair straightener, electric boiler, slow cooker, or blender, remember to keep it unplugged. Store the cord and other items in a safe place in your home away from children and pets.
When you are going on vacation, you also need to consider unplugging energy-sapping electronics such as computers, modems, and chargers.
6. Considering an ACFI (Arc Fault Protection Interrupter)
Arc faults cause home fires many times each year. As the issue stems from damaged outlets, wires, and appliances, you might encounter arc faults if yours is an older or poorly wired home.
Arc fault protection interrupters might detect the time when this damaging fault occurs by cutting off power before the electrical issues worsen. Many states still require AFCIs in their new home construction system, but if you want, you can hire electricians to install one in your home.
7. Childproofing the Outlets
TRRs (tamper-resistant receptacles) are the long-term answer for covering the outlets from your kids. If you have little children in the house, it can be a spring-loaded cover for your outlets to keep someone from inserting undesired objects into the wall. The outlet has to receive simultaneous pressure to release, for instance, a plug itself.
Final Words
Electrical safety is a must to keep your home protected from fire-related accidents. It goes far beyond avoiding a power surge to your laptop or a tripped breaker.
You need to pay close attention to the smallest details of the wiring of your home to get peace of mind and avoid the danger of a home fire.
Follow the electrical safety tips for your home mentioned above to keep your family and yourself safe and secure.
