When was the last time you checked your electrics? Electrical fires are more common than may be think but there are a few steps that you can take to safeguard your home.
Last night (24 March) at 19.51 two appliances were sent to a property in Dunsters Mill Road, in Ticehurst.
Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus tackle tackled the accidental electrical fire using 1-in-7 foam.
Registering your appliances in the home ensures that you are the first to hear when manufactures occasionally recall products with potential safety problems.
Click here to find out how you can do this.
Key electrical safety advice:
Electrical appliances
- Keep them dry- this includes plugs and sockets, not a good idea to put a vase of flowers on top of the TV, for example
- Switch them off at night- unless they are designed to be left on, like freezers
- Anything made of metal, or has a metallic finish or parts shouldn't go into a microwav
Keep electrical items in good working order
- Electrical appliances, especially ones that run at high speeds and contain motors, like washing machines, should be serviced once a year by a qualified electrician.
- Follow the manufacturer's instructions
Regularly run these checks over your equipment
Plugs and sockets
Keep an eye out for the following:
- Hot plugs or sockets, scorch marks, fuses that often blow, or flickering lights - they are all are signs of loose wiring or other electrical problems
- Badly wired plugs- any coloured wires sticking out could come loose and debris could also get into the plug
- Are the wiresare held firmly in place inside the plug
- Overloaded sockets- plugging too many electrical appliances into one socket can lead to overheating
- Use sockets safely- it's better to use a bar adapter (multi-board) on a lead than a block adaptor
- Only use one adaptor per socket- don't plug one adaptor into another and try to keep to one plug per socket
Cables and leads
Are they
- Getting frayed and damaged- make sure the outer covering of all power leads is in good condition and replace if necessary?
- Badly positioned- they shouldn't be anywhere that they could be tripped over, or near water, cookers or other sources of heat?
- Running them under rugs or carpetswhere they can wear through without anyone noticing - position them elsewhere?
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