safety Archives | Elite Electric, Plumbing & Air

Safety First: Avoid Electrical Fires With These 4 Tips

The holiday season is a time of joy, warmth, and festive decorations. However, it's also a season when the risk of electrical fires can increase. To ensure that your holiday celebrations are filled with happiness and not marred by disasters, it's essential to prioritize electrical fire prevention.

What Causes Electrical Fires?

Electrical fires during the holidays can have various causes. Overloaded outlets, damaged wiring, misused extension cords, dried-out trees and greenery, and inexpensive decorative lighting are common culprits. With holiday lights, decorations, and electronic gifts in abundance, overloading electrical outlets and circuits is a frequent cause of electrical fires. Moreover, old or damaged wiring can become a fire hazard when exposed to increased electrical loads from holiday lighting and devices.

How Can I Keep My Home Safe?

To keep your home safe during the holiday season, you should take several precautions. Start by having a qualified electrician inspect your home's electrical system, including outlets, wiring, and the circuit breaker. This inspection ensures that your electrical system is in top-notch condition and can safely handle the increased demand during the holidays.

Protective Measures

Avoid overloading outlets by using surge protectors and limiting the number of devices plugged into each one. Quality extension cords that are properly rated for their intended use should be used for holiday decorations, and daisy-chaining multiple cords together should be avoided. Inspect your decorative lights for safety certifications and ensure they are in good condition before use.

Greenery and Decor

If you opt for real trees or greenery, keep them well-watered to reduce the risk of ignition. Always turn off holiday lights and decorations when you leave the house or go to bed. Ensure your home is equipped with working smoke alarms on every level, and test them regularly. Lastly, have an emergency plan in place, including a fire extinguisher and knowledge of how to use it, as well as evacuation procedures.

By following these electrical fire prevention tips, you can enjoy the holidays with the peace of mind that your home is safe. The gift of safety is one of the most precious you can give to your loved ones during this special time of year. Our Elite team is here to provide in-depth inspections to ensure your home is prepared for the extra strain the holidays bring.

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Celebrate National Wellness Month and Implement These Important Safety Measures

How to Keep Families Safe at Home

National Wellness Month may be about highlighting self-care, stress reduction, and the pursuit of happiness, but all of those things won’t be possible if safety isn’t provided first, and what better place to begin than the home? The following are necessary safety measures that homeowners should take to ensure that they and the people they love remain safe, stress-free, and happy in the most comfortable of all places - the home.

Importance of Smoke Detectors

A smoke detector is one of the most critical devices homeowners can install in their homes to provide a line of defense against fire hazards. Not only do they give peace of mind that there will be a warning in the event of smoke or a fire, but they are also required in all states to be installed in designated areas in the house. This is because smoke detectors are highly effective.

Smoke detectors should be maintained regularly with checks and battery replacement. Batteries on smoke detectors usually only last six months, after which the smoke detector can begin to chirp to indicate battery replacement is needed. But modern versions of this device can now last up to 10 years without battery replacement.

Carbon Monoxide Detectors Save Lives

Aside from smoke detectors, a carbon monoxide detector is another crucial device to install at home to protect against carbon monoxide inhalation. Carbon monoxide, which is produced when carbon is burned incompletely, is a colorless and odorless gas that can be lethal if left undetected.

Similar to smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors are regulated by each state and are required in all but two. Because of this, many homes have a combined smoke and carbon monoxide detector instead of having a separate device to detect each hazard. However, unless it’s specified that the device can detect both, carbon monoxide detectors and smoke detectors are not the same.

Schedule an Electrical Inspection

A routine electrical safety inspection is one of the most vital precautions homeowners can take to ensure that their homes meet the standards of electrical safety prescribed by the law. Ensuring homes are subject to regular electrical inspections lowers the risk of fires and electrocutions that overloaded circuits, frayed wiring, or faulty electrical installation may cause.

These inspections are ideally conducted every three to five years by an electrician to assess the home’s electrical system and the changing power demands of its occupants. However, an electrical inspection must be conducted earlier if homeowners become aware of the following hazardous signs:

Small shocks when plugging or unplugging appliances
Burning smell
Flickering lights
Sparks coming out of outlets
Hot or discolored outlets

About Elite Electric, Plumbing & Air

Elite Electric, Plumbing & Air has been serving the community of Port St. Lucie and the surrounding areas since 1988. They offer upfront pricing, same-day service, and 24/7 emergency service. Call them today for electrical services in Port St. Lucie, FL.

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3 Safety Tips For Halloween Decorating

Halloween Decor Electrical Safety

An electrical fire is the wrong kind of scary for Halloween decorating! Halloween decorating with inflatables, lights, and electric yard decor can be fun and safe when done responsibly. Homeowners can use these three tips from electrical experts to practice good electrical safety when decorating for Halloween this year.

Whether going all out for Halloween or just putting up a few simple decorations, homeowners should always take safety precautions to ensure their decorations are not an electrical hazard. Using the wrong type of electrical decorations outdoors can be a safety hazard because water and electricity do not mix well. Putting too much strain on the home’s electrical system can also cause dangerous power surges.

Inspect Halloween Inflatables and Lights

Before plugging in any Halloween decorations, even if they are brand new from the store, homeowners should inspect them for any signs of damage. The decoration could be unexpectedly damaged in storage by rodents or water. Plugging in decorations with damaged cords could cause an accidental electrical shock.

Homeowners should pay attention to signs of faulty wiring, such as sparks, a burning smell, or flickering lights coming from the decoration. Ignoring the warning signs of damaged electrical Halloween decorations could come back to haunt homeowners. Larger decorations that use more electricity should always be carefully inspected for safety before use.

Be Strategic When Plugging In Halloween Decorations

Homeowners need to be strategic about where they plug in their Halloween decorations. Outlets and power strips should never be overloaded, and power strips should not be plugged into another power strip. Overloading can cause an electrical fire.

Homeowners should also be careful about plugging in outdoor decorations. Yard decorations will be exposed to rain, wind, and other weather that could be hazardous if water reaches the electrical wiring. To avoid an electrical emergency, homeowners should only use yard decorations designed to be placed outdoors.

Plugging yard decorations into the right kind of outlet is also essential for electrical safety. GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) electrical outlets are required outdoors and in rooms with water sources to protect residents from electrocution. Outdoor outlets need to be covered from the rain and kept free of debris.

Surge Protectors

Overloading the electrical outlets by plugging in too many decorations can be a safety hazard. When too much electricity is in the home’s electrical system, the circuits can overheat and cause an electrical fire. The home’s breaker box will typically shut off power to the house to prevent a fire.

Having too many electrical decorations plugged in at once can cause the breaker to flip. So how can homeowners safely go all out with Halloween decorations without causing a power surge? Using surge protectors to plug in Halloween decorations helps prevent electricity from overloading outlets.

Homeowners can install whole-home surge protectors to protect their homes from power surges. There are also plug-in surge protectors that can be added to outlets. Homeowners should consult a trusted local electrician for personalized opinions on what type of outlets and surge protectors are the best for their home safety.

About Elite Electric, Plumbing & Air

Elite Electric, Plumbing & Air has over 30 years of experience serving its neighbors in Port St. Lucie, FL, and the surrounding areas. They provide upfront pricing, on-time arrival, and personal attention. Call them today for electrical services in Port St. Lucie, FL.

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It's May Which Means It's Electrical Safety Month!

Different Ways To Practice Electrical Safety This Month and Always!

Electricity has come to be one of the standard systems inside every modern home. At the beginning of its time, people had electricity installed into their homes but were still too afraid to use it, so they would still rely on candles! Today, society has grown so accustomed to it that it’s easier to forget just how dangerous electrical systems can be. That’s why there is an entire month dedicated to electrical safety! It is crucial that homeowners are especially aware of how to maintain an electrically safe home in today’s world. There are different devices and protection that can be installed into the home. Homeowners should also be aware of several warning signs that could spell out danger.

The Different Electrical Safety Devices

There are four standard electrical safety devices that should be installed in every home today.

These four devices include:

Circuit Breakers
Fuses
Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters (GFCI)
Arc-Fault Circuit Interrupters (AFCI)

All of these devices work in different areas of the home to prevent an electrical overload. Overload can happen in the event of a power outage or if too many things are plugged in at once. If it weren’t for electrical safety devices such as these, homeowners would have to be ten times more cautious and aware of what electronics they use, how many they use at once, and even when a storm is expected!

Common Warning Signs of An Overloaded Electrical System

The main warning sign that an electrical system is overloaded is when a fuse pops. This is the universal sign that the system is overloaded with too many electronics plugged in at once and pulling too much energy from the electrical panel. That said, there are other signs as well.

Common warning signs of an overloaded electrical system include:

Fuses and circuit breakers that are tripped often
Flickering or dimming lights
Crackling or buzzing receptacles
The wall is hot around the receptacles
A burning smell coming from the receptacles

Another common sign is when homeowners turn off an appliance or light switch and feel a mild shock.

Information On Surge Protection and Why it’s Important

Another critical electrical safety tip is to have surge protectors in the home. Surge protectors allow homeowners to plug in multiple things at once without overloading a receptacle or the system itself. They work by alternating the current circuits to prevent voltage spikes that cause problems.

The main benefit of surge protectors and why they are so important is because they protect devices from surprise peaks in electricity. These power surges can damage devices and appliances, but with a surge protector, this doesn’t happen.

Elite Electric & Air Keeps Their Customers Safe

When it comes to electricity, there is no time to mess around. The Port St. Lucie electrical professionals at Elite Electric & Air work 24/7 to provide excellent, efficient, and safe service for their customers. They’ve been in the industry for more than 30 years, so homeowners can trust that they will get the job done right no matter what. It’s time to call today!