Fire Safety in Your Home

Last week we shared three tips for the best fire safety electrical practices in your home. To finish off your fire safety checklist, here’s our final two tips!

Look For Warning Signs in Your Switches and Outlets

Are your switches and outlets working?

Switches that don’t work properly can indicate an incorrect or unsafe wiring job, which could be a fire hazard. When you get a home electrical inspection from Coffin Electric, we look for these switches and outlets to check your wiring and get them working again.

Is there anything out of the ordinary happening in your switches or outlets?

If any of your switches or outlets are warm to the touch or are making any strange noises like crackling or buzzing, these are warning signs that could point you towards a potential fire hazard. They usually indicate unsafe wiring conditions, like a loose electrical connection. Stop using these switches and outlets until you can get them looked at by a licensed electrician.

If All Else Fails, Smoke Alarms Save Lives

Your smoke alarms keep your home and family safe.

Having enough smoke alarms in proper locations, regularly testing and changing the batteries, and keeping tabs on age are all important steps in helping your smoke alarms do their job. Nearly two-thirds of fire deaths in the home happen in homes without working smoke alarms, so enduring some slightly annoying beeping is worth it in the long run. There should be smoke alarms on each level of the home, outside each sleeping area, and inside each bedroom. They should be tested at least once a month, and their batteries should be replaced every year (or sooner, if they start “chirping”). Without regular testing, smoke alarms can fail without showing any warning signs, so regularly checking them and replacing their batteries are crucial to keeping them working. Finally, you should know how old each of your fire alarms are. Over time, the components inside of these alarms wear out and limit operation, so they need to be replaced every 10 years. If you don’t know how old they are, you should replace them to be safe. Labeling them with the month and year on the outside is helpful for remembering and keeping tabs on when it’s time to replace them. 

Don’t let your home or family be at risk. Checking your home for proper electrical fire safety is easy to implement into your regular habits, not only providing an extra layer of safety to your home, but giving you peace of mind.