The second most common reason behind house fires was electrical problems. Electrical fires are frequent and often cause significant property damage and disproportionate fatalities.
In conclusion, fires caused by electrical failures or accidents can be extremely deadly if safeguards are not in place. Fortunately, following these electrical safety guidelines will help keep you, your family, and your possessions safe. Let's examine how electrical safety affects monitoring your circuits, choosing the equipment you use in your circuits, and using different methods to solve issues at home.
But first, let's understand the importance of home electrical safety inspections.
Importance Of Home Electrical Safety Inspection
With time and use, all electrical systems and wiring will degrade. However, the majority of homeowners frequently ignore the wiring situation. Only when a fuse has already blown, or a breaker has already tripped will an electrical safety assessment, at most, be requested. It should be no surprise that electrical problems frequently result in home fires.
One of the most crucial things to keep your house safe from electrical risks is to evaluate the electrical wiring. You don't want to put your loved ones' lives in danger or risk having your home ruined by electrical fires. As a result, your home's electrical safety should be a primary priority.
A proper electrical safety inspection will:
- Determine any electrical wiring or parts that may have aged poorly.
- Identify any overloaded electrical circuits.
- Identify any earthing deficiencies.
- Find any bad wiring or other errors that unlicensed electricians or do-it-yourself homeowners made.
- Locate oversized fuses or breakers that might provide a fire risk from electrical current.
- Look for any dangers of electric shock.
When To Do Home Electrical Safety Inspection?
- When acquiring a house, before moving in, it is preferable to confirm that your new home is electrically secure.
- If your house's electrical system still needs to be inspected and it's older than 25 years.
- If your house just had a significant remodeling.
- If you see an electrical device acting strangely, especially old ones, get it checked.
Home Electrical Safety Inspection Checklist
This serves as a generic electrical checklist for checking the electrical system in a home. In addition, Portable Appliance Testing (PAT) should be done regularly, and the equipment and electrical appliances under test should be examined. A certified electrician or someone with in-depth knowledge of electrical testing conducts PAT testing, including visual inspection, earth continuity testing, insulation testing between current-carrying elements and the exterior metal, and other tests.
- Keep the power off during inspections or installations.
One of the easiest electrical safety checks at home is to make sure the circuit is shut off for that plug before inspecting or replacing a piece of equipment. Several breakers in your home indicate a location for major appliances. As you check the appliance, disconnect it and turn off the circuit. By doing this, you can avoid getting shocked.
- Limit electrical output
To handle the larger load required by countertop equipment, you should install more circuits in the kitchen than in other rooms. Avoid connecting more than one hot gadget (hair straightener, toaster, etc.) into a single circuit simultaneously to prevent electrical output from overloading your circuits.
Also, larger appliances like a toaster oven, oven, or microwave should be connected directly to an outlet instead of using an extension cable or outlet extender. These extenders frequently increase electrical resistance, requiring the device to take additional current from the circuit. Overheating or a shortage makes the circumstances for a fire to start.
- Check your cords
Using the circuit breaker, turn off electricity to any frayed, ripped, or exposed wiring. Consider getting a new cord if the one you have is for a little device. For instructions on how to replace the cord if it's for a more significant appliance, get in touch with the manufacturer. They might perform this for you if the warranty still covers it.
- Adhere to manufacturer recommendations for lighting
Although it may seem obvious, we frequently need to remember to do this: When you purchase a lamp or other lighting item, it comes with the maximum wattage advised for bulbs. Stay within this limit since doing so might cause the bulb to overheat.
Utilizing a globe or shade to cover exposed bulbs is an additional safety measure. Covering bulbs reduces the risk of a fire by keeping adjacent objects from coming into touch with them when they are hot.
- Know where your electrical lines are
While your home has overhead electrical cables, stay away from them if you're cleaning your gutters or cutting trees. Likewise, before beginning any digging where there are underground electricity connections, get in touch with your utility provider. They provide location services to label your power lines so you won't dig over them.
- Your tripping circuit breakers could be a warning sign.
Does turning on your washing machine or plugging in a power cable cause your circuit breaker to trip repeatedly? It can be a symptom of a tripped circuit breaker, and it will trip if you try to give it more power than it can handle. Consult an electrician if you observe this happening.
- Consider installing arc-fault circuit interrupters in older homes.
Sometimes older homes need more energy capacity to meet the demands of modern technologies. As a result, overloading the circuits may increase their risk of starting a fire. Arc-fault circuit interrupters can be installed as a safety measure for your house.
They operate by detecting various arcing situations (when electricity jumps from one wire to another, sometimes burning material between them). It recognizes these as typical arcing occurrences when you connect your laptop charger or turn on the light. To avoid a fire from starting, it shuts power if it decides the situation is dangerous.
- Consider installing ground-fault circuit interrupters.
When a device is hooked into a wall, ground-fault circuit interrupters monitor the current flowing to and from the device and turn off the power supply (indicating a shock, for instance). Bathrooms, kitchens, basements, laundries, garages, and outside plugs may all have these installed.
When in doubt, contact an electrician.
If you are not an electrician, never try to solve an electrical issue on your own. Additionally, if your home is 40 years old or older, or if you are planning a makeover, consider having an electrician evaluate it. Addressing the root causes of issues before they arise provides you peace of mind.
Electrical Safety Checklist
So what is an electrical inspection checklist? The checklists are designed to make it easier for inspectors to track all the components of an electrical system that need to be checked, confirmed, reviewed, evaluated, or otherwise studied to see if they comply with the NEC®. Here’s a checklist that you can follow to see if your home is up to standard.
• Call your landlord or a licensed electrician if you have the following:
• Recurrent issues with fuses blowing or circuit breakers tripping
• A tingling sensation when handling electrical equipment
• Warm or discolored wall outlets
• The scent of burning or rubber emanating from a device
• Dim or flickering lighting
• Sparks coming from a plug
• Check your house for electrical risks that are concealed.
• Examine electrical cables to ensure the wires are in good condition, fractured, or unfastened. Take the object to a qualified repair shop if the cables need to be fixed. Employ an electrician or substitute with a new thing
• Make sure that no cables are hidden under rugs or running across doorways. If so, you should have a licensed electrician add extra outlets.
• Keep kids away from electrical outlets and cables. Burns can be caused by placing cords in the mouth, while shocks, burns, and electrocution can be caused by placing things in electrical outlets.
• Make sure that all switches and receptacle outlets have faceplates.
• Use only one plug in a single outlet. A plug-in device may contain one or more receptacles, including one for receiving every plug.
• Make sure the light bulbs in your fixtures are compatible with the lamp. The maximum wattage for the light bulb should be listed on a label; for example, use a maximum of a 60-watt bulb.
• Appliances that produce heat, such as toasters, coffee makers, iron, or microwave, use much power. To avoid overheating wiring, plug only one heat-producing item into each outlet
• Avoid using ladders near overhead power lines, particularly those that supply electricity to your home.
• Go, Green! When you leave a room, turn off the lights. When not in use, unplug appliances.
Conclusion
In our daily lives, electricity plays a crucial role. It provides various home functions, including keeping the lights on and running our kitchen and cleaning appliances. Electrical safety regulations must be put in place due to the heavy reliance on power to reduce danger. The risk of electrical fires and other catastrophes can be reduced by heeding the advice mentioned above and calling an electrician if unsure.
To protect against electrical risks, you must undergo an electrical safety examination. Are you concerned about the price of electrical inspections? You can save more money by avoiding the need for repairs and hiring an electrician before a problem arises. At Home Alliance, we got the experts to help you. We offer various home repairs and electrical services that you can count on. Book a service with us today!
