National Safety Month Spotlight: Preventing Electrical Fires

6/14/2018 (Permalink)

Electrical fires are one of the top leading causes of house fires in the U.S.  Most of these fires could have been avoided by following certain safety tips for protecting your home. Some easy things you can do in your home are:

1. Discarding cords that are worn or frayed. When live wires are exposed, they are susceptible to starting house fires.

2. Never breaking the third prong to fit a plug into an outlet. The third prong creates an alternate pathway for electricity in the event of an error.

3. When unplugging a device, hold the plug securely and don't yank the cord. This motion may cause a short circuit.

4. Avoid water and heat sources with cords.

5. Do not overload outlets. HowStuffWorks recommends using this formula: p/e=i (wattage divided by volts equals amps to know if you're overloading your outlet.

6. Do an electrical inspection. The standard rule is that homes with copper wire need an inspection every 20 years and 5 years for aluminum wire. You should also do an inspection if you're buying a century home, a resale home or if you're doing a home renovation.