Aug 10
19
How to Identify Fire Hazards in Your Home
Fire is one occurrence that you do not want to particularly experience because of the danger it presents to life and property. It is therefore a must that you and your family adhere to fire safety regulations and keep in mind safety tips to prevent fire from happening in your home. This is best done by understanding the possible causes of home fires, checking if such situations exist in your home, and if they do, find ways to eliminate the causes enabling you to reduce the chances of fire from happening if not totally preventing such occurrence.
Electrical fire is one of the most common household fires and most of these are caused by faulty electrical wirings and outlets as well as overloading of circuits. Flickering lights and discolored outlets are only some of the signs that could warn you about the existence of electrical problems in your home. These situations can be avoided by simply employing electrical safety precautions like an annual maintenance check of all electrical wirings, extension cords, plugs, outlets, and circuit breakers. It is best to call for a professional electrician to inspect your home as he knows best what to do.
If you are watching your favorite TV program and you noticed the picture shrinking or the lights dims when another appliance is switched on, chances are you are overloading your electrical system. This problem can also be seen if your circuit breaker frequently trips and the same is true when the fuse gets frequently busted. It is best to stop using the appliance and unplug it until you had things checked out. The set up of electrical system in older homes are not up to take the innovations made on appliances and other equipments so having a professional electrician to check the capacity of your electrical system is important.
One safety tip when using an outlet extension is not to overload it, meaning do not employ the “octopus” connection or plug several appliances on the “power bar” extension. If there is no avoiding an extension outlet, be sure that you do not plug more than one appliance with high-wattage on that outlet. A good reminder when dealing with extension cords is to never run them under the carpet or rug. It might not be aesthetically appealing to see extension cords about but hiding them under the carpet is surely a fire risk.
Some home appliances need a lot of air space and important positioning should be employed for electrical safety. Entertainment equipments should have space around it to breath in order to avoid overheating while this would also ensure that the vents are not obstructed when using the microwave. Space heaters should be placed at least three feet away from combustible materials like curtains and it is best to remember never use extension cords with it. Space heaters run on strong electrical currents and this high dose could melt extension cords that may eventually start a fire.
These are just some basic safety tips that can be easily followed for fire prevention. Just being aware of the possible fire hazards in your home and doing something to correct them is already a big step in reducing the risks. Employing good safety measures is a good way of making sure that your family would not be part of the statistics.
