When it comes to keeping your family safe from harm, you want to do everything in your power. Dealing with electricity can be a dangerous thing if you don’t do it correctly. Teaching your family how to properly approach electrical problems can make a world of difference in their safety. Here are our top 10 electrical safety steps or tips to help keep your family safe from harm.
1.) Avoid Overloading An Electrical Outlet And Power Strips
Being in the technology age, it can sometimes be difficult to charge all of our mobile items. From your phone to your iPod, to your computer, you need to have a clear outlet space to do so. Many think the best solution is to simply add more temporary outlets to their existing hardwired outlets. This can be done with power strips and multi-outlet plugins. While these may seem convenient at first, they actually can cause major electrical problems. Overloading outlets can cause burnt plugs, and in more severe cases, full-on house fires. You should avoid using multi-outlet plugins as much as possible to reduce your family’s risk of danger.
2.) Don’t Yank On Electrical Cords
It may seem tempting from time to time to pull on a power cord to get it out of the wall. Just because it saves you that short trip back down the hallway to unplug the sweeper, it’s actually costing you more in the long run because of the wear it takes. Realize that by yanking power cords, you can damage the cord, the plug, and the actual wall outlet. In the event that your wall outlet has become loose due to being yanked on, we suggest calling a qualified electrician to fix the issue.
3.) Avoid Keeping Power Cords Near Water
If you’ve ever noticed that the outlets in your kitchen and bathroom are shaped differently than the rest, you’ve seen a GFCI outlet. These are specially made to help decrease the likelihood of electrical shock in the event that water seeps into the outlet. You can do yourself a favor and protect you and your family from electrical shock by keeping power cords away from areas that house water. This may be simply suggesting to blow-dry hair in a bedroom instead of over the bathroom sink. Little habits can help to protect your family for electrical dangers.
4.) Clean Our Those Dryer Vents Regularly
You may be wondering what in the world dryer vents have to do with your home’s electricity and your family’s safety When You Follow Electrical Safety Steps. Well, we’re going to explain it all to you so get ready. When you use your dryer to dry your clothes, it blows heat into the exhaust vent. This typically leads outside. The exhaust vent has a filter on it which collects the lint from your clothing. If you fail to clean out your dryer vent on a regular basis, the lint can start to pile up. This will eventually close off the exhaust vent. This will leave the excess heat inside the dryer and could cause it to catch fire. In fact, many house fires are caused by this problem. It takes a couple of seconds to remove the lint from your dryer to keep your family safe, so do it!
5.) Always Check Your Light Bulb Wattages
We’ve all been there, our light goes out and we need to replace it. When you look in the closet you can only find one replacement bulb. Its wattage is rated higher than the suggested outlet, but hey it’s just a lightbulb right? Wrong, a higher wattage light bulb can lead to some big problems. It will produce more heat and could end up melting the actual light socket, which then could lead to a fire. There’s a recommendation on the light fixture for a reason. You should be following it. It’s a good idea to go around your home with your kids and ensure that they understand the wattage number and why it’s important to ensure every light fixture has the right wattage bulb in use.
6.) Have The Right Fire Extinguisher
Did you know there are various types of fire extinguishers? Not all of them are recommended for the same types of fires. Your home should have a fire extinguisher handy that is rated for use on electrical fires. You should put the fire extinguisher in a location where anyone in your home can reach it, including your kids. Also, everyone in your home should know of the location of the fire extinguisher so they can get to it if there is ever an electrical fire in your home.
7.) Do Regular Cord Inspections
A great way to keep your family safe from electrical problems is to check cords on appliances regularly. The ones you use more often should be checked on a more regular basis than those appliances that never get used. You should unplug the appliance. Then, look over the cord from the plug to the entrance to the actual appliance housing. You’re looking to see if there are any exposed wires. These could lead to electrical shock and can be a fire hazard. If you notice that wires are exposed, it’s time to either replace the appliance or call a professional electrician from Brevard County to help.
8.) Avoid Placing Wires Under Mats
While it can be very appealing to hide those electrical wires from your air conditioning unit in Brevard County so that guests can’t see them, it’s not the best idea. When you hide wires underneath rugs and other fixtures, it can be difficult for you to see the actual state of the wires. If exposed wires start to come through, you won’t be able to tell. Also, you don’t want constant foot traffic over the cords as that could cause them to wear much faster than normal.
9.) Install Removable Safety Caps On Outlets
We’ve all seen those plastic plugs that go into unused outlets to cover up the slits. These can help protect your children from sticking items into the electrical socket. This can also keep things like dust and pet hair from getting inside the actual wall outlet. We highly advise that you pick some of these up at the store or ask a service provider to install them for you.
10.) Don’t Do Your Own Repairs
Unless you’re a professional service provider in Space Coast Florida, we don’t advise doing your own electrical work. Qualified electricians in your area have a wealth of knowledge about how electricity works and how to install it throughout a home. If you don’t have this existing knowledge, it’s never a good idea to do your own electrical work in Space Coast Florida as there is a higher risk of electrical harm.
Keeping Your Family Safe
Keeping your family safe should be your number one goal as a parent. When it comes to electricity, you must think about both the safety of your children and yourself. If you’re not a professional electrician, then leave the job up to the pros. By visiting www.ugopros.com you can get connected with local pros in your area that can safely take care of all your home electrical needs, Electrical Safety Steps. U’GO Pros understands your requests for professionals you can count on. So in Brevard county and growing, rest assured we vet our pros and only have the best.
