How to Prevent electrical fires During winter?

Need to know about the electrical hazards that could bring your home on fire? If you built your dream home that lacks proper installation of electricals switchgear and electronics, you will impact braces!

THE BIGGEST RISKS LIE IN HOME HEATING

Source from the NFPA: “heating equipment was involved in an estimated 54,030 reported U.S. home structure fires.” Reported during years of 2011-2015. The statistic is awkward, and as you might expect you should be very care of your HVAC and alternative heat sources.

To avoid HVAC equipment risks be sure your boiler, Heater or whatever heating system is checked commonly. Many fires that ignite in an HVAC system occur because it hasn’t been serviced and the electrical switchgear haven’t been inspected in a while.

Avoid space heater risks by setting it away from any flammable objects. Also, be sure to power the space heater with correct outlet support (a dedicated circuit) and never leave space heater unattended. Those things consumes lots of wattage and run hotter than your oven!

IF YOU’RE HAVING A GENERATOR, USE IT RIGHT

For most of us, a home generator is all that stands between us and a days-long power cut during winter days. It doesn’t usually get as frigid around here as other places, but when we get it, it really matters! Generators are an awesome way to keep power up, but Generators come with their own Dangers; namely, they’re at risk of sparks a flame if they’re not well maintained or the fuel in the generator is old. If your generator has been sitting idle for couple of months, get it inspected before you try to use it!

BE ALERT WHEN COOKING

There’s nothing like hot food when being out in a winter day. But before you start cooking, be sure your kitchen has the installments equipped safely! GFCI’s (Ground-Fault Circuit Interrupter) should be in use in all kitchen spaces within a certain distance from water sources, and additionally ovens, microwaves, and refrigerators should be on seperate circuits to avoid overloads that may lead to an electrical fire. Also, be sure to stay in the kitchen when cooking. A small portion of kitchen fires reported were found to be due to appliances being left alone heated..

OLD FAULTY APPLIANCES

Most electrical fires are caused by defective electrical outlets and old, outdated appliances. Other fires are caused by faults in appliance cords, receptacles and switches. Never use an appliance with a damaged cord which can outsource heat onto combustible surfaces like floors, curtains, and rugs that can ignite a fire.

Running cords under carpets is another cause of electrical fires. Discarding the ground plug from a cord so it can be used in a two-prong electrical outlet can also cause a fire. The reason of appliances that have the extra prong is so they can be only used in outlets that can handle the excess amount of electricity that these appliances draw.

CONTINUAL OVERLOAD

Many vintage homes are really low in their capabilities to safely provide enough power to operate all the electrical things we use in nowadays. There just isn't enough power available to the home or there aren't enough dedicated circuits. In Olden days only one circuit was designed into kitchens, and that isn't enough to properly operate a microwave, refrigerator, toaster, electric grill, mixer, toaster oven, etc. The result is that the circuit breaker or fuse is always breaking. This is the same case in bathrooms; the bathroom circuit commonly supplies bedrooms as well, but add in a curling iron and a hair dryer along with the bedroom Television and thus circuit is often overloaded as well.

Everytime when a circuit trips or a fuse blows, it is an indication that the circuit is excess loaded, but most people will simply reset the breaker and do the drill again. The inevitable result is that the circuit breaker is slowly getting damaged to the point it doesn't work properly anymore and the complete panel itself can be damaged as well.Nowadays, we can see house panels that have the massive bus bars inside, carrying the entire power to the whole home, half melted from repeated overloads and this is a recipe for disaster!

If you are frequently stumbling a breaker or replacing blown fuses, have additional circuits installed as necessary. It might be expensive but it's better than burning the house down.

According to the NFPA, the main cause of electrical fires are lamps and light fixtures. Such fixtures are designed to withstand only the heat from the rated size light bulbs - do not overload the fixture with bulbs that are too big. While it is quite acceptable to use a 100 watt equivalent CFL bulb to replace a 40 watt incandescent bulb as an energy saving measure in your home or office, the fact is that the CFL is only using a few watts of energy and isn't nearly as hot. It won't damage either the thermal insulation or the electrical wiring of the fixture.

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