It’s hard to keep track of all the electrical hazards that lurk in your home, but it’s not impossible. With a little bit of knowledge and some good habits, you can protect yourself from these 10 common household electrical risks.
1) Outlet Covers Not Installed: It sounds ridiculous, but many people forget or neglect installing outlet covers in their homes. This is an easy first step to take if you want to make sure your home is safe for your family!
2) Extension Cords Hung on the Wall: When extension cords are hung up by nails, hooks or pegs they can be pulled down and cause a potential electrical hazard. Be sure to plug them into an outlet instead!
3) Unprotected Wires: Exposed wires are a huge electrical hazard and one of the most common to find in homes. Be sure to keep all your wires protected and out of sight to avoid any accidents.
4) Outlet Plugs not Fully Inserted: Make sure your plugs are fully inserted in the outlet to be safe. When they’re only halfway, it allows for a potential electrical hazard and fire risk as well!
5) Flammable Materials Near Electrical Outlets: Make sure you keep all flammable materials at least two feet away from electrical outlets to avoid any fire risk.
6) Appliances that Use Heated Elements: Be sure to keep appliances with heated elements at least three feet away from the wall and electrical outlets.
7) Home Wiring: Inspect the electrical wiring in your home for any damage, fraying cords or exposed wires. If you find anything that looks unsafe, call a professional electrician immediately!
8) Extension Cords: Make sure you only use extension cords when absolutely necessary. Using them for anything other than temporary power will over-exert their electrical system and they can cause a fire hazard or shock!
Wall Outlet Plugs Not Grounded: You should always make sure that your wall outlet plugs are grounded to prevent any electrical accidents from happening. Use an adapter at all times if needed so the plug is fitted with a three pronged grounding point.
Bare Wires Touching Others: If there’s more than one wire, it must be twisted together before being secured in place using tape of covered by insulation sleeves which can break down over time leaving bare wires exposed.
9) Lights, Appliances and Electronics: When you’re using electrical equipment in your home be sure to take a few seconds to read the instructions. They will tell you how many amps or watts they use which is important for determining if they need an outlet with that capacity or not.
Appliance Plugs Not Grounded: Appliances should always have their plug oriented so that it’s grounded before being plugged into an outlet. If this isn’t possible make sure there are no appliances near any sinks since water can cause electric shock hazards!
Light Bulbs – Incandescent vs Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL): CFLs produce significantly less heat than incandescent bulbs as well as lower levels of UV light giving them some benefits. However, they contain mercury which is harmful to both the environment and people if broken.
Electrical Cords: Make sure electrical cords are securely fastened so that they can’t be pulled or tripped on while in use. Also make sure there’s a clearance of at least 18 inches from floor level for them to prevent children from accidentally pulling on them.
Power Sockets – Unbundled Vs Bundled Wires: When using power sockets with bundled wires it’s easy for one wire to get loose and not work properly causing problems elsewhere in your home electrical system. For this reason unbunded wiring should always be used when possible!
10) Extension cords – At any given time you’re likely to find at least one extension cord in use for your home electrical system. Extension cords can be used safely but it’s important that they are always properly grounded and the voltage rating is matched with what is being plugged into them!
One extension cord can only handle around three amps worth of power at any given time before it starts having problems with voltage loss over distance. It’s important not to overload them by plugging too many items in together from different circuits as this will definitely cause electrical fires or worse for both those cords and the electrical devices plugged into them!
Two extension cords can be used with the same load but it’s important to make sure there is a three-prong plug for each cord. This will allow one of those two plugs as an emergency backup in case something happens to the first one.
It’s also very important not to run power tools or appliances that are heavy on amps like refrigerators, space heaters, and microwaves from extension cords if at all possible because they need too much amperage and voltage to operate safely without damaging themselves quickly.” }
11) Lamp Shades: The covering on a lamp shade is very often made of old fabric, which means that there may be lead paint or some other toxic substance embedded within its fibers. This makes it difficult to clean without risky chemical cleaners and should be avoided as much as possible when installing new shades. If this isn’t doable then make sure not to touch the inside lining part of the shade since hand oils will mix with whatever chemicals might already have accumulated over years of use.
You should never use extension cords as a permanent solution to power your electrical needs. Not only are they costly, but they pose serious safety hazards such as tripping over them or having the cord get wet and create an electrical shock when touched. They can also be used by children who might think it’s fun to play with electric sockets!
12) Light Bulbs: Old light bulbs contain mercury, which is a very toxic material and should be handled with care. If you break an old one then make sure to use rubber gloves when cleaning up the broken glass; find some way of containing or disposing of the materials safely so they don’t get into your home environment; and never vacuum them since that would release more particles in the air!
13) Electrical Wires Behind Walls: It is difficult for you to determine if these wires have been properly insulated, which could lead to overheating and fires (or worse). If this isn’t something that you’re comfortable doing then call a professional who will know what kind of materials need to be in place before working behind any walls so everything stays safe.
The tips in this article can help you identify and eliminate the most common home electrical hazards. Hope that (we) Electrician in Boca Raton Helped you with this tips. Contact an electrician for all of your needs if there are any questions about what to do next.
