Electrician's Tips: Bedroom Electrical Safety

We’re looking at bedroom electrical safety, because who doesn’t want a good night’s sleep without having to worry about electrical fires and shocks? How do we avoid such things when we’re at our most vulnerable, when we’re asleep?

Don’t clutter the floor

Firstly, we would strongly advise that you don’t create a large pile of clothes (as easy as this is to do!) - there’s potential kindling there, as well as potentially blocking you from escape should there be a fire. In fact, we’d advise that you don’t create any kind of clutter or piles of books or clothes anywhere on your bedroom floors. Keep the floor area as clear as possible.

 Don’t charge your phone in the bedroom

We’d also suggest that you don’t charge electrical devices in your bedroom, and we’d include tablets, phones in that, and especially not on your pillow as you sleep. The reason for this is that they have a tendency to overheat and if they’re on your bed and they’re not attended to, which is likely to happen when you’re asleep in the room as well as when you’re not in there at all.

 No overloading of sockets

Don’t overload sockets with extension leads full of plugs because that can lead to electrical fires, it’s simply a case of providing too much power and giving your extension leads too much work to do. Too much power will lead to overheating and electrical fires or an electrical shock.

Have smoke alarms upstairs as well as downstairs

If you live in a house rather than an apartment on one floor, you may only have an alarm on the ground floor. We strongly suggest you get an alarm on every floor of your home and definitely where there are bedrooms. 

Check all plugs, sockets and cables

As you would in any other part of the house, always check the sockets, plugs and cables for signs of damage, wear and tear and make sure you’re aware of anything loose or frayed. Keep any portable heaters away from flammable materials, and if you still use electric blankets always make sure you replace it once it’s old, and always switch off before going to sleep.

Have you checked all the bulbs in your bedroom lately?

Make sure you check the ones in the ceiling as well as the ones in your lamps. Check the wattage to make sure you’re using the right ones, if they get too hot, it could be that you’re using the wrong wattage for your lamp. If you’re using portable air conditioners to cool a room during a heatwave, make sure you check the plugs and cables. It may be some time since you last used them.

Insecurely attached ceiling fans are not a good sign

If you use ceiling fans, are they securely attached to the ceiling or are you experiencing a bit of a wobble? Make sure they’re attached securely. The motor of the fan can be seriously worn down and that in turn can start a fire, so keep an eye out for anything like that.

Speak to the Electrical Experts

If you keep a close eye on all electrical items in your bedrooms, and on the floor all your bedrooms are on, you have a good chance of avoiding fires and electric shocks. If you have any questions on anything we’ve discussed, then please get in touch with us here at VC Electrical and one of our team of electricians will be more than happy to help.