Electrical Safety Essentials: Examining Five Main Areas Crucial to the Safety of Your Family
We use dozens of appliances and devices daily without thinking about the electrical systems that power them. But don’t assume yours is safe. Between 2010 and 2014, U.S. fire departments responded to more than 45,000 home fires a year involving electrical failure or malfunction, according the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). In the UK, someone dies every week in an electrical accident at home. You can protect your family and substantially reduce your risk of tragedy caused by electrical accidents by taking a few minutes to check the following five components of your home’s electrical system. Circuit Breakers Your electrical panel is the heart of your home’s electrical system. Modern homes use 100- to 200-amp circuit breakers to accommodate more and higher-power-consumption appliances. Older electrical panels, however, may be a concern. In the U.S., for example, houses built prior to 1965 used 30- and 60-amp fuse panels, which were adequate for the lesser electrical d...