Electrical fires is a worry that people often overlook. Electronic appliances and electrical equipment may have made our lives easier, but complacency in using them is what increases the risk of electrical fires. A huge component of electrical safety is knowing how to deal with fires that begin with an electrical source.
To avoid this, you should make it a commitment to know how to prevent electrical fires. If you are not aware, a recent UK research study has stated that there would be 1 death and 80 electrical fires a week. These statistics should be enough to get any person to learn the basic steps on how to prevent electrical fires, as your life and those of your loved ones might be at stake.
How to prevent Electrical Fires : What Causes Electrical Fires?
In finding out how to prevent electrical fires, you must first look into what causes electrical fires. This would give anyone a clear understanding of how electrical fires begin, and what people can do to prevent them from happening.
Electrical fires are often caused by electrical sparks coming from faulty electrical equipment or systems. When these electrical sparks end up reaching nearby combustible material, they would end up igniting a small fire that can lead to a bigger one.
How to prevent Electrical Fires : Steps to Consider
Everyone should be aware that the first step in knowing how to prevent electrical fires is to know the amount of electronics you use in your home. Looking into electronic appliances and electrical equipment around your home will be a good first step to find out how to prevent electrical fires. Most people own a number of electronic appliances that they have not taken time to check or have checked by professionals. Just because they still function well does not mean that they might not have any underlying problems.
Another way of how to prevent electrical fires is to check your power plug-in sources. Extension cords have become popular as a way of efficiently using electricity even if socket availability is at minimum. If you use extension cords, make sure that you do not overload it with a ton of appliances. This could lead to more consumption of electricity and result to overheating.
Overheating is the main culprit of electrical fires and the knowledge of how to prevent electrical fires should lead you into taking precautions like making sure you do not leave electronic appliances unattended or functioning for long periods of time. This measure should be practiced, especially during winter when the use of heaters is prevalent. Gas-powered heaters would be a perfect alternative, but electrical ones are more convenient. Make sure you don’t leave them working without monitoring their progress though. These heaters pose as one of the major electrical fire hazards, so it would greatly help to look after them more often.
Electrical cords too are one of the major causes of electrical fire hazards. You can’t use electronic appliances without them most of the time though, so knowing how to prevent electrical fires would greatly help in reducing risks of electrical fires causes by electrical cords. Unplugging them from sockets should always be done carefully. Never pull them off using the cords, as it could loosen them from the plugs and might cause sparks, which would lead to an electrical fire.
You should also avoid running wires and cords under carpets, as this would cause them to wear from rubbing off on the carpet and the floor. This would also cause overheating. Effective measures of how to prevent electrical fires also entail you to check your electrical cords frequently. Those that are worn, cracked, and discolored should immediately be replaced.
With the use of light bulbs, always remember to match the capacity of the device to the bulb wattage. The wrong light bulb watt for your lamp or overhead lighting would cause overheating, making your home prone to electrical fires.
Always get a technician to check your fuse box and circuit breakers, especially if your lights tend to flicker a lot or when your circuit breaker trips out all the time. Warm sockets and switches should also alert anyone into consulting technicians.
Lastly, knowing how to prevent electrical fires should always involve careful placement of devices that tend to give off large quantities of heat, and even flame, away from combustible materials. Even the condition of your smoke detectors should be looked into. These are safety precautions that will lead to better avoidance of electrical fires, thereby saving anyone the inconvenience of experiencing such tragedy.