Home and Cottage Electrical Safety by Harold Stofman
Being safe in using electrical appliances should be a major provision in every household’s set of standardized operations. A lot of fire incidents occur as a result of faulty wirings and overloads. Hazardous accidents such as this can be prevented if we equipped ourselves with safety measures involving electricity and its use.
We often take appliances for granted as a part of our daily life and routine. From the electric brush that we use, microwave oven to our electric heater to our electric bulbs. These simple tips give us insights to enable us to have safe operations on our appliances.
* Never operate any electrical appliance near the water or with wet hands.
* It is often unappreciated in the lay public that just like home computers that most electrical appliances emit waste heat. Thus give clearance for heat exchange and dissipation. A most wise standard is to leave several inches of clearance all around any appliance for good air circulation and cooling for appliances that generate heat such as computer monitors and televisions.
* Do not lay clothes, toys, blankets or towels or other items over warm or even not so warm appliances. Its just bad practice and electrical safety management
* Unplug unused appliances and stow cords safely.
* Keep potentially combustible materials such as clothes, curtains and toys away from heat sources.
* Before going to bed routinely check that all electrical devices not in use are properly shut off.
* Avoid taking appliances into the bathroom. Water and electricity, when they come together could post serious hazards and injuries.
* Why ignore warning signs? If a situation occurs where an appliance repeatedly blows a fuse or trips the circuit breakers take a hint and take that appliance off-line. Fuses and circuit breakers are there for safety reasons. They are giving you a good warning. Some homeowners even foolishly try to bypass these systems of care – placing a penny in the fuse box to bypass the fuse early warning alert system. Atta boy Kirk.
* Cords should also be used safely and with extreme care and precaution. Just as every car has a motor most if not every one of the appliances in your home or office have cords These cords are used in the homes to increase the range of electrical outlets. The following are basic and essential safety tips:
* Cords should be firmly plugged into outlets.
* Never ever overload sockets. It is safe to use a single plug in every socket. Use bar type adapter that also has a fuse. Total output of all plugs in the adapter should be no more than the specified rating.
* Make it a regular and ongoing practice to check cords regularly for frays, cracks or kinks.
* Extension cords should not be overloaded. Don’t make an extension cord or outlet extension from a dollar store into an “Octopus”. Make sure that extension cords are used on a temporary basis and not intended as a permanent household wiring. As they say you would be amazed. People forget that the temporary extension is now a main power conduit – that can well be both a safety and fire hazard. Some of the time this might be ok – say around a computer where the energy used is all for low power ac adapters. However around computers remember that laser printers and laser copiers draw almost as much power as a microwave oven
* Nailing or stapling cords – say onto a wall into position is bad practice and asking for trouble. The staple or nail may puncture the insulation of the cord causing damage to the integrity of the cable and potential short circuits – resulting in at the best fuses or circuit breakers to trip or at the worst real bad house fires from arcing.
* Never touch broken electric cords or ones that have wire showing.
* Tell your kids to keep their fingers or any objects away from light sockets or electrical outlets. Use plug covers to ensure that no one will get hurt especially children. You would be amazed at how inventive and ingenious kids are at placing small objects such as booby pins into sockets – just for fun – only to have severe burns later
* You may well remember the “Leave it to Beaver” TV episode where the father of the home politely reminds the mother its best not to pull the cord from the wall from a distance. Best to hold the plug firmly itself and withdraw it from the electrical plug box. Pulling out the cord from a distance along the wire is convenient, but dangerous, you can stretch the wires and cause dangerous short circuits which may well short into a spark creating fire.
* Lastly even if a plug itself is out of a socket for a moment or two it still well be hot enough to cause severe burns to a child or toddler who may place the shiny object in their mouths
You never can play too safe when it comes to electrical safety around your home, office or weekend vacation cottage.
About the Author
Harold Stofman Sell Manitoba Cottage Why drive across Manitoba’s highways rural roads View Gimli Winnipeg Beach Lac du Bonnet Lake of the Woods Northwestern Ontario Cottages online Free Top Producing Agents Winnipeg
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