Understanding the Importance of Electrical Safety
Read time: 2 min 30 sec
Electrical safety is important to consider when assessing the overall safety of your home. It’s not only about the aesthetics of it, like untidy cables or an outdated or out-of-style outlet. It’s far more serious than that, as unsafe electrical infrastructure can lead to electrical fires and damage to your property.
Here are 5 signs you may notice in your home, that indicate you have an electrical issue.
5 Electrical Warning Signs
Overloaded Circuits: Recognising the Signs of Overuse
This is a fairly interesting point, but if you’re finding that you need to use more extension cords or multiplugs to accommodate everything you need in your home, you may have a problem. While it might not be serious now, overusing an outlet by adding more extension cords and multiplugs can damage your electrical infrastructure in the future. This could end up tripping your circuit breaker, damage the outlet, or worse, cause a fire.
So, the best thing to do if you need more plug points in your home is to call an electrician to install more. Simple right?
Burning Odors: Warning Signs of Electrical Fires
A burning smell is a fairly obvious sign that there may be an electrical issue in your home. And it usually smells like burning plastic.
This can turn out to be a very serious issue, potentially even an electrical fire, if it’s left to worsen. The heat that is generated from electrical wiring can sometimes take its toll on your infrastructure and potentially pose a serious threat to your home.
If you start finding a burning smell coming from an outlet or plug in your home, switch it off immediately, stop using that outlet and call in a professional to assess and fix it properly.
Tripped Circuit Breakers: Insights into Electrical Overloads
Circuit breakers are meant to protect your electrical circuit from damage that may occur from excess current. If you notice your circuit breaker trip more often than usual (or at all), it may be a cause for concern.
Your circuit breaker may be old or outdated and may need to be replaced, to ensure it continues to do its job.
Sparking Outlets: Recognising Immediate Hazards
Seeing sparks in your home is never a good thing. Never. The first thing to do is to determine where the sparks are coming from. If an appliance is sparking, then the problem lies with that specific appliance. You may be able to save the appliance by calling a suitable repair company. If not, you may need to replace the appliance.
More serious though is if you notice sparks coming from an outlet or the circuit breaker panel, call an electrician immediately, because there is a risk of an electric shock, or worse, a fire.
P.S. Once you’ve assessed where the sparks are coming from, make sure you switch everything off to avoid any injury or damage to property.
Outdated Wiring: Knowing When It’s Time for an Upgrade
Older homes require a little more TLC than newer builds, particularly when it comes to electrical infrastructure. Not only do regulations change over time, but the wiring itself can become damaged and pose a problem.
For example, if you bought your house 30 years ago and you’ve never really had to have anything major repaired or replaced on your electrical infrastructure, it may be worthwhile having it inspected. Better safe than sorry!
Prioritising Electrical Awareness for a Safe Home
Being aware of any issues in your home or having an understanding of electrical safety doesn’t mean you have to be a qualified electrician (you can leave that to us). All it means is that you need to be able to identify potential or current electrical issues and know what to do in each case.
If you experience any of these electrical warning signs, give us a call and we’ll assess and fix your electrical problems.