How to protect your home from fire: simple energy security rules

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

How to prevent a fire in your home and protect your loved ones.

Prevention is the best friend in any business. Your apartment, country house or summer cottage is subject to many risks, including a fire. Therefore, it is so important to know how the housing meets the fire safety requirements.

Carelessness in the use of electrical appliances and their malfunction are the most common causes of emergencies in residential buildings. Most often, a fire occurs due to a short circuit - a phenomenon in an electrical network that leads to a sharp increase in current strength and strong heating of a section of an electrical circuit - a wire or cable. Old or damaged electrical wiring is most susceptible to faults.

How to secure your home

1. Examine the status of the network and equipment

It is worth carefully checking the condition of the electrical equipment and the electrical network. It is best to call a specialist who will immediately identify all vulnerabilities. If you are a tenant, it is worth agreeing with the owner about troubleshooting within the first month, or better - before concluding a lease.

Make a note of all important emergency numbers, especially the local utilities and emergency control rooms. Learn the rules for evacuation and remember where the emergency exits and the fire escape are in the house.

2. Conduct an audit

Be sure to disassemble old things on the balcony and get rid of all unnecessary things: old paints and varnishes and flammable materials, carpets, empty boxes.

If there are electrical appliances that you do not use, they must be turned off and removed. And all cables should be secured so that they do not interfere or bend. Strong or frequent bending of the cable can damage the insulation, which can cause an electric arc. In this case, the cable will start to spark like a sparkler. This will cause the electrical wire to melt and burn.

It is also important to protect the wires from direct exposure to sunlight and not to expose them to frequent and large temperature changes.

3. Buy quality electrical equipment

Don't skimp on your own safety. If possible, install high-quality circuit breakers, residual current devices (RCDs) and difavtomats in the electrical panel. They will protect the home in the event of a short circuit and other anomalies in the operation of the electrical network.

It is important that when choosing these devices, their characteristics correspond to the parameters of your network, and the manufacturer is time-tested and gives a guarantee for its products.

However, these devices cannot distinguish between intermittent arcing and arcing in electrical wiring. But it can cause ignition of insulation and fire. In this case, an arc fault protection device (ARC) comes to the rescue. This equipment is best installed in the bedroom and children's room.

It is also worth paying attention to safe building and finishing materials, fireproofing impregnation and insulation that is not afraid of fire (for example, stone wool).

4. Be careful with electrical appliances

If it seems to you that the iron or kettle is very outdated, it is better not to risk it and buy new ones. Wire insulation ages along with the devices themselves, so they can easily sparkle, disrupt the network and cause a fire.

Do not forget to unplug appliances from the outlet by holding strictly to the plug, not the wire. This will not damage the integrity of the wire insulation.

5. Do not overload

Do not include several powerful devices on the network at once. If you plug your computer, washing machine, kettle, TV, and iron into the same electrical outlet at the same time, an electrical overload may occur. In the best case, it will overload the network and disconnect devices. At worst, fire.

You should not save on small electrical appliances, such as chargers for gadgets.

Cheap ones quickly fail due to poor quality, which can lead to a short circuit.

Buy devices with a high energy efficiency class (A +++, A ++, A +, A). This will not only save on electricity, but also reduce the load on the network.

6. Remove electrical appliances from the bathroom

It is better to keep electrical appliances away from the bathroom. There, you can easily do without a tablet and other gadgets. Use extreme caution if using a hair dryer or pliers.

If possible, unplug the washing machine from the mains immediately after use. Also, be sure to install a separate difavtomat or RCD on the sockets in the bathroom.

7. Remember prevention

Buy a fire extinguisher. And do not forget to periodically inspect switches, sockets and electrical appliances for serviceability and integrity of the insulation of electrical wires.

What to do if you have children

The appearance of children should push you to completely rethink the organization of the safety of your home, including the power grids.

1. Explain safety rules

If your child's age allows you to explain the basic concepts of electrical safety to him, be sure to tell him that you cannot touch the wires, stick your fingers and foreign objects into the outlet. Also try to explain in an accessible form the degree of danger of electricity.

2. Hide all the sockets

To help protect young children from serious injury, use plugs for plugs or special plugs with covers. They are easy to find in stores.

3. Supervise young children

Toddlers often try to touch everything they can reach. Therefore, always unplug electrical appliances and gadgets after use, and keep children away from devices while they are operating.

4. Remove all unnecessary things from the children's room

Minimize the amount of furniture and electrical appliances. All sockets in the nursery should be plugged and at a sufficient height from the floor.

When shopping for flashlights, decorative lamps, or various entertainment electrical appliances, make sure they are safe. Do not leave them on for a long time, or use only in your presence.