Things You Should Do To Prevent Electrical Fire Breakouts At Home
There is no doubt that electricity is a necessity in your home. You need electricity for a variety of domestic applications such as cooking, entertainment and ventilation. However, using electricity also has its fair share of risk, and you must do your best to ensure that your home is safe all the time. One of the hazards involved is the risk of a fire breakout. A fire can be caused by poor electrical connections, faulty appliances in the house, or a lack of knowledge of what you are supposed to do. To prevent the devastating effects of electrical fire breakouts, here are things you should do:
Load Your Sockets Properly
The electrical appliances in your home have different power supply needs. Heating appliances, cookers and large appliances such as washing machines require more power compared to other appliances such as clock radios. On the other hand, sockets can only supply a certain amount of electric current to power up the appliances.
You should not plug in too many appliances into one socket. If you do, you risk overloading the socket, which forces the sockets to supply more power than their electric current rating. Overloading heats up the components of the sockets. This can cause a short circuit and lead to a fire breakout. If you have many appliances, you'd better fit additional sockets rather than overloading the few that you have.
Regular Inspection
Sometimes, is not easy to tell if there is an electrical fault within the house until a major problem, such as a fire, occurs. However, you can minimise the uncertainty by having a regular schedule for your electricity cabling and appliance inspection. A commercial electrician should come in and assess the condition of the connection, sockets, main switch and appliances. This will help you make timely replacements and repairs before a catastrophe occurs.
Inspection should be done more regularly if you live in an old house with old, overused power supply equipment. Such equipment may be outdated and fall short of the current safety standards used in the production of modern electrical equipment.
Keep Combustible Materials Away From Heaters
You should be careful when positioning your portable electrical space heaters. If flammable materials such as rugs, curtains and bedding are positioned carelessly near space heaters and coils, there is a higher risk of a fire breakout. Alternatively, you can opt for radiation heaters that will not cause a fire when they come into contact with the flammable materials.