Electricity Dangers in the Home
With our heavy reliance on electricity, we all need to be cautious of the electrical use in our homes. Knowing the way electricity can be a danger to you and your family and how you can keep your home safe is vital. Listed below are some of the most common electricity dangers in the home and how to stop them from happening to you.
- Faulty Wiring – Poor wiring increases the chance of an electrical fire. This is one of the reasons why it’s best to avoid doing electrical work yourself. Get a professional electrician to do it for you. Also, have a professional electrician check your wiring on a regular basis to ensure everything is still okay. If you need to, you may want to upgrade and replace any old, faulty wires.
- Outlets Close to Water – Electricity and water does not mix. Water conducts electricity and when coming in contact with people, it can kill them. The outlets in your bathroom and kitchen should be installed a good distance away from any water sources to prevent deaths or serious injuries.
- Covered Electrical Cords and Wires – Covering of cords and wires can make them overheat and cause a fire. Keep your cords and wires away from other objects and ensure that they never get covered. Similarly, ensure that your computer and television have enough space and proper ventilation to ensure they do not catch fire.
- Light Bulbs – Many people don’t realize just how dangerous light bulbs can be. But when they are covered by curtains, jackets, plastics, etc., a fire could occur. Light bulbs like all other electricity sources could cause an electrical shock. Make sure that when unscrewing a light bulb, it’s turned off. When replacing a light bulb, ensure you’re replacing it with the right wattage. If you don’t, overheating can occur easier and faster.
- Extension Cords – If these aren’t hidden and away from the walkway, people could trip and hurt themselves. Don’t use extension cords as a permanent substitution for a power source, and don’t ever plug in too much into the extension cord. Too many things plugged in could cause overheating, leading to fires.
- Curious Little Children – Open sockets are a huge danger to little kids. They want to stick anything and everything into the hole and can get an electric shock as a result, leading to some very serious injuries. To prevent this from happening to them, use the plastic socket covers.
- Pouring Water on Electrical Fires – Water conducts electricity so this would only make the fire worse. Keep a fire extinguisher in your home to help extinguish the fire. If you can’t extinguish the fire yourself, turn off the electrical power source causing the fire and call for help from your local fire station.
Electricity isn’t something you should ever mess around with. Be safe and ensure that these accidents never happen in your home.
Thanks for the reminder about the dangers of electricity. Everyone should check on a regular basis throughout their home for any possible causes of a fire.
Thanks for the information.
You are so right, this is a bad problem in some homes. Some things it’s hard to check what you can’t see, but doing what you suggested is having a big step getting ahead of any type of electrical problem.
Thanks for your information. I always worry about fires since we had a problem with an outlet. We had an electrician out to fix it, but I will make sure we stay on top of it.
This is very helpful information that everyone should know about, thank you for sharing! I have three little ones so I always try to keep our home safe. We adopted a kitten a year ago that unfortunately loves chewing on cords. It scares me as well as upsets me because she has ruined so many appliances/phone chargers and I definitely do not want her to get shocked. Our solution was to buy a whole bunch of cord cover, which protects her as well as the cords.
The is great information on electricity. Everyone needs to read these.
Good reminders. I try to do what I can safety wise to keep everything running smoothly. I recently added a whole house surge protector to my electrical box so I don’t have to use surge protector strips that I’m always concerned i might overload.
This is pretty eye-opening. Thank you for sharing!
very important tips indeed! You can never be to careful when it comes to electrical issues in the home, and with the holidays coming up definitely something to remember.
Very good reminders!
This is important information. I live in a fairly old house (built in 1960) and it has electrical issues. I am saving help to have it rewired.
I will pass this list on to others. Great reminders!
This is a great reminder. I don’t think we think of these dangers that often. We have to protect our children, ourselves and our homes.
Thanks for the info will spread it around