Reading these top ten home electrical tips you will manage to get a lot of useful information on safety and practical recommendations for people who deal with electricity. Read here for more electrical tips and tricks!
1. Get Familiar with Your Circuits
Your consumer unit (it is also known as the fuse board) contains several different circuits. A fuse or circuit breaker protects each course. It is necessary to ensure that every separate channel is labelled correctly and clearly.
Thus, you will be able to isolate the appropriate circuit anytime when you need to do this. Read more about mains supply and consumer units to get more detailed information on this topic.
2. Power Failure
In case a fuse blows, or a circuit breaker trips, the indicator on the consumer unit will show that the circuit is overloaded. It is special protection for circuits. This will help you avoid using too many appliances at the same time. As a result, you will manage to prevent many negative consequences (like severe damage or a fire) from happening.
Before resetting the circuit breaker or changing the fuse, the number of appliances on the circuit must be reduced.
If the RCD (Residual Current Device) trips out and won’t reset, it will display a fault. In this case, all appliances have to be unplugged. If machines are not connected via a plug, they can be switched off. Are all devices disconnected, but you can’t reset RCD, and a fault with the circuit is indicated on it?
So, it is better to contact a professional electrician in this case. Is it possible to reset RCD? This means that the fault is with one of the appliances. When RCD is off, reconnect one at a time and then the RCD has to be reset. The process should be repeated, and it is necessary to start when the RCD is off. Does the RCD trip after it is connected to an appliance? Therefore, the device has a fault, and you need to have it repaired professionally.
3. Emergency Light
It is recommended to have a good quality torch that you can use in case of a power cut happens. Put it in the place that you can easily access even in the dark. Fortunately, there is a lot of right plugin torches, available today. They can switch themselves. So, you can use such a light when the power goes off.
4. Safety Rules for Work with Electricity
Are you going to start to work with electricity? So, the first thing that you should do is to make sure that the power is off. The energy at the consumer unit should be turned off. Also, it is necessary to take out the fuse or switch off the circuit breaker. Acting in such a way, you will manage to isolate the circuit concerned. If you deal with the appliances that plugin, then the plug should be removed from the wall socket first.
When changing a lamp, make sure that the light switch that is intended for a fixed light is off.
When changing table lights make sure that the appliance is unplugged.
5. Correct Fuses and Lamps
New plugs often come with a standard 13 amp fuse. Nevertheless, this may need to be changed for suiting the appliance it is used for. Get familiar with the information about the device and find the appropriate fuse for it. Selecting the right lamps for light fitting is essential. Provide a light fitting with a label that shows the maximum allowable wattage for the lamp. Remember that the maximum should never be exceeded. It should be noted that the heat that is provided by a 100-watt bulb can cause a fire risk on a lower rated fitting.
6. Lamps and Saving Energy
Would you like to reduce your electricity bills? In this case, you will need to consider individual low energy lamps. It is important to say that due to their numerous competitive advantages the modern energy saving lamps have left older style incandescent bulbs behind the scene. So you can use them in your house. Also, when purchasing a new appliance such as a fridge or freezer, it is expedient to give a preference to an energy efficient model.
7. Follow the Rules
It is better not to start electrical work if you are not 100% sure that you can cope with it quickly. Just be aware of the fact that according to law the specific electrical tasks have to be performed by an approved contractor or notified to the Local Authority Building Control beforehand and then inspected and certified. More detailed information about it you may find by reading more about the Electrical Regulations.
8. Plugs, Adaptors and Extension Leads
If you are trying to disconnect a plugged-in appliance your socket has to be switched off first. Also, never pull the plug out by its flex. Acting in such a way, you can create the connections inside the plug. It is too dangerous to plug one adaptor into another. Doing this you can cause a fire. Make sure you unwind an extension reel thoroughly before start using it. It is important to know that coiled flexes and cables provide heat that can melt the flex.
9. Electrical Repairs
Never use damaged sockets. If you have noticed that your switch or a device is broken, you should have it replaced as soon as possible. If you are not sure that you can cope with this task, then it will be better to make use of the services provided by a qualified electrician.
10. Outdoor Safety
Are you going to use a power drill outside? Before starting work, you should ensure that you have protected the appliance via an RCD (Residual Current Device).
So, if any fault occurs, this will isolate the power supply. Also, such protection reduces the risk of electric shock. It is better not to use power tools outside if the weather is wet or it is raining. It makes sense to purchase extension leads, which are specially intended for outdoor use and provided with an integrated RCD and a waterproof socket.