11 Electrical Safety Tips for Children

Electrical safety is always important, especially when you have children and toddlers in the house. Whether you are installing wiring for the first time or doing a safety check in an existing home, follow these tips to make sure your electrical systems are in good working order.

Tip 1 - Overloaded Electrical Sockets

Overloaded sockets are a common cause of household fires. Never put more plugs into the socket than there are spaces for, and avoid using multi-socket adapters and extension leads. Remember one plug per socket.

Tip 2 - Socket Covers

Although electrical sockets are too small for little fingers, they are not too small for other more imaginative items such as food, small toy parts, cutlery and other items. Take the precaution of inserting socket covers into all empty sockets in your home.

Tip 3 - Teach Your Children to Always Dry Their Hands

Electricity and water don't mix. If you touch an electrical socket or electrical items with wet hands, you could give yourself an electric shock. Educate your children about this and teach them that they should always dry their hands after washing them.

Tip 4 - Check the Plugs and Wiring on Your Appliances

Make sure that you check the condition of every appliance plug and its wire in your house. Wires should be checked for any scorching or fraying that has occurred. If you find any, do not use that appliance until the wiring has been repaired.

Tip 5 - Running Appliances Overnight

Do not run appliances such as the washing machine overnight. If you leave an appliance unattended while you are sleeping, you will be unaware if anything goes wrong.

Tip 6 - Running Appliances Simultaneously

Beware of running large appliances at the same time like the washing machine and the dishwasher as these use a lot of power and can overheat the system.

Tip 7 - Switch Off at Night

Switch your electrical appliances off at night unless they are needed (like the fridge and freezer).

Tip 8 - Electrical Chargers

Don't leave electrical chargers plugged in if they are not needed, like your mobile phone charger or laptop charger as these easily overheat.

Tip 9 - Trailing Wires

Don't leave wires trailing around your house. Even if they don't seem to pose an electrical hazard, they are easily tripped over. If you have lots of wires in one place, use a cable tidy. In particular, don't leave wires trailing anywhere where they can trail into water.

Tip 10 - Fitting Sockets

If you are fitting sockets in your house, make sure that they are fitted a safe distance from any water sources like the kitchen sink. Try and leave a space of at least 30 cm. Don't ever fit sockets in bathrooms apart from shaver supply units unless they are a distance of at least 3 meters from the bath or shower.

Tip 11 - Lighting and Water

If you are putting in lighting, make sure you install a pull-cord switch in the bathroom just in case of wet hands. Enclosed ceiling lights are also preferred in places where there might be splashes or your children may have wet hands.

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Energy Efficient Home Appliances And Electronics

Appliances account for about 20% of household energy use. Appliances and electronics really add up on your energy bill. When shopping for new appliances and electronics look for energy efficiency labels.

Air dry dishes instead of using your dishwasher's drying cycle.

Clean the lint filter in the dryer after every load.

Consider air-drying clothes on clothes lines or drying racks.

Consider buying a laptop for your next computer upgrade; they use much less energy than desktop computers.

Don't over-dry your clothes. If your machine has a moisture sensor, use it.

Dry towels and heavier cottons in a separate load from lighter-weight clothes.

Make sure power management is activated on your computer.

In the average home, 75% of the electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off. Plug home electronics into power strips and turn the power strips off when the equipment is not in use.

Wash your clothes in cold water using cold-water detergents whenever possible.

Unplug battery chargers when the batteries are fully charged or the chargers are not in use. Many chargers draw power continuously, even when the device is not plugged into the charger.

Turn off your computer and monitor when not in use.

Use the cool-down cycle to allow the clothes to finish drying with the residual heat in the dryer.

Wash and dry full loads. If you are washing a small load, use the appropriate water-level setting.

When shopping for a new clothes dryer, look for one with a moisture sensor that automatically shuts off the machine when your clothes are dry.

What is Electricity?

What is Electricity?
Electricity is the flow of current. Due to this flow, a device such as an elecric bulb glows.

Click the switch 'ON', to see the bulb glow.

Click the switch 'OFF', to stop the flow of current.

Observation: The current flows inside the bulb. Also, current is available in the circuit; when the switch is on. When the switch is off, there is no flow of current. So the bulb stops glowing.

This is what Electricity is!

By the use of electricity we can drive motors, electric fans and many electric appliances such as a toaster, a television, an electric iron etc.

Where does Electricity come from?

Electricity is produced in Power Generating Stations. It is produced by rotating thick coils of wire inside very huge magnets.

We transmit electricity through wires.

Firstly, transmission of electricity is made via wires known as 'Transmission Lines' which are strung on towers. These transmission lines terminate in various intermediate places known as 'Sub Stations'. Here the heavy voltage is reduced through a device known as 'Transformers'. Then from the transformers by the use of overhead or underground electric lines, electricity is transmitted to the 'Loadends' (streets, houses, factories, etc.).

It is basically a closed circuit through which electricity flows. We close the circuit with switches. Now, whenever, we switch on any electric appliance (say an electric fan), it works (i.e. in this case the fan rotates). When we switch off, the electric appliance is detached from the electric circuit. So there is no flow of electricity. Hence, the electric appliance does not work.

How does Electricity travel?

Electricity travels through 'Conductors'. A conductor is a material through which electricity flows easily.

Metal is a good conductor. This is the reason why wires are made of metal. Electric wires starting from generating stations to transmission lines to sub stations to transformers and finally into buildings or into your house; are made of metal.
Water is a great conductor of electricity. Please remember that your body contains mostly water. So, electricity can travel through you!

Caution: If electricity travels through you, you may be injured or even killed. So be careful!

Electricity travels in the speed of light i.e. 186,000 miles per second. So it travels much faster than you. It will give you no time to react. So, it is better and safe to be away from electricity.

What are Insulators?

Insulators are used to keep electricity in power lines. Materials like glass, porcelain and plastic are used as insulators in power lines. If the insulator breaks, the power line disconnects from the insulator and as a result of this disconnection, the electric line can fall on the ground and energize the area around. If you touch this line, you will be injured or even killed. Even if the wire falls on your vehicle, it is energized by the wire. If by chance you touch the wire and the ground simultaneously, you will be hurt or killed. So do not touch any electric wire falling out from a power pole.



Rubber and plastic insulators are used around electric wires to keep the electricity inside. So even if you touch such insulated cable, you do not get shock. If the insulation is broken or worn off, the electricity can come through and shock you. Similarly, if you overload an outlet by plugging in too many things, then due to unusual flow of excessive current, the electric wire will over heat the insulator. As a result of this the insulators will burn, which cause shock or fire hazard.

How can Electricity hurt you?

When electricity travels through you, it can hurt you. Usually electricity finds the easiest path to earth or the ground. If you are in between ground and electricity, it will travel to the ground through you and you will experience electric shock. As a result of this, you may be hurt or killed.