Football season is here, school is back in session and the first few cold snaps are coming – all classic signs that autumn is approaching. With cooler weather and the holiday season on the way, checking your property’s electrical system is essential for ensuring your safety. Before you break out the Halloween decorations and plug in your space heaters, check out our five-step electrical safety checklist to keep you in the clear this fall.
Keep Dry Leaves Away
With Louisiana’s excessively dry weather recently, trees are starting to lose their leaves, and more are sure to fall as autumn comes into full swing. As leaves litter our lawns, parking lots and backyards, it’s critical to sweep them away from outside outlets, electrical fixtures and power cords since they easily catch fire if hit with an electrical spark. With the state’s current drought and threat of wildfires, taking this safety precaution is more important than ever.
Inspect Your Extension Cords
From Halloween decorations to Christmas lights, extension cords are most people’s lifeline for setting up their holiday displays. As you unravel your extension cords, take a minute to check for damages and ensure all cords you use outside are weather-rated. Also, use surge protectors to help prevent a power surge and provide internal load protection.
Assess Cold Weather Tools
As the temperatures cool down, taking on some long-awaited landscaping projects or checking a few lawn maintenance chores off your to-do list might be tempting. However, before you get started, inspect your cold-weather tools. By quickly checking your cold-weather tools, your leaf blower, for instance, you can spot any damages or needed repairs. It’s especially important to check their power cords and replace any devices that have undergone too much wear and tear.
Remember Space Heater Safety
Though space heaters are cost-effective and efficient for heating a room, they also include serious safety hazards if misused. When using a space heater, it’s crucial that anything flammable is at least three feet away and located in a low-foot traffic area. This will help prevent it from getting accidentally knocked over. Also, always plug your space heater directly into the wall and never into an extension cord. Check out this checklist from the Electrical Safety Foundation for more space heater safety tips.
Check Smoke Detectors
With great power comes great responsibility. Since fall and the holidays often include light-up decorations, electrical displays and heating appliances, people’s electricity use increases, and so does the risk of fire. With this in mind, ensuring your smoke detectors are operating correctly in case of a fire is vital.
Are you experiencing electrical issues or want to ensure your systems operate as safely as possible? Our experts at Cajun Electric provide a a range of residential and commercial electrical solutions. We help with lighting design-build to electrical inspection reports, preventative care assessments and electric vehicle charger installations.
Contact us today for professional electrical solutions!