Three Electrical Safety Devices Every Houston Property Owner Should Have

As a Houston property owner, you understand all too well how vital electricity is as a part of your everyday life. But, electricity also demands a healthy amount of respect because it can be dangerous when misused or mishandled. Severe damage, injuries, or even death can occur. Therefore, safety is paramount when it comes to your electrical system. At a minimum, you should always review electrical safety within your home or business to determine if improvements are needed. More homes and businesses are safety-deficient than you might think. Here are three electrical safety devices every home and business should have.

Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters (GFCI)

At times, a ground fault can happen if there’s a disruption in the grounding path from the electrical system itself or a device in operation. When this occurs, the current takes an alternate route through the person operating the device before reaching the ground. In that case, serious electric shock or even death occurs.

 

A ground fault circuit interrupter, also known as a GFCI, is one of the most important electrical safety devices to install in your home or business. It’s designed to act as a circuit breaker of sorts to turn off electricity in case of a ground fault. GFCI’s shut electricity off to a single outlet when it a problem is detected. Ground fault circuit interrupters act quickly to prevent serious shocks and incidents from occurring.

 

But, adequate installation and maintenance of a GFCI should be carried out by an experienced professional electrician. At Illuminations Lighting Design, we recommend that bathrooms, kitchens, utility rooms, and outdoor outlets have ground fault circuit interrupters installed. Speaking of outdoor outlets, you probably should also consider getting bubble covers for your outdoor outlets just to be on the safe side.

 

You want to ensure that any place where water might come into contact with an outlet has protection from a GFCI. Once installed, have an electrician test the outlets occasionally to ensure they’re still working properly.

 

Grounded Outlets

You probably already know that grounded outlets are of paramount importance when it comes to electrical safety. In fact, grounded circuits are probably the singular, greatest safety achievement in history regarding the safety of electrical operations.

 

A properly grounded outlet means your electrical system has a safety valve from which it can discard excessive current when a power surge occurs. This action prevents fires, melted wires, electric shocks, and other potential disasters.

 

Improperly grounded outlets are common with a lot of DIY projects. Some people believe that their work is sufficient when all too often, at a minimum, it is giving them a false sense of security. Outlets should always be grounded correctly by an experienced electrician to be safe and effective.

 

Grounding must be set into a grounding circuit that runs throughout your entire home or business, with no loose wires left hanging anywhere. In that way, every outlet that’s connected is protected. An electrician can ensure the job is done correctly and give you greater peace of mind.

Self-Closing Outlets

One of the greatest concerns for parents of small children is that their child will poke around in electrical outlets. After all, younger children are curious by nature. Unfortunately, it turns out those fears aren’t unwarranted. More than 100 children die of electrocution each year, with many of those deaths occurring because of contact with an electrical socket.

 

Most parents would prefer to avoid electric shock to their children. It doesn’t matter how much effort is put into trying to teach our kids right and wrong. Young kids don’t understand things as well as adults do. Thankfully, there’s an answer in the form of self-closing outlets. These lifesavers are probably one of the best inventions in the area of child safety.

 

Self-closing outlets are sliding covers for your outlets. The covers are designed so that there are holes in the same pattern as a plug. The covers are fixed to a spring that prevents it from lining up. Part of the safety feature calls for using both hands to plug something into the outlet. Small minds won’t figure this out. Only adults will know that you need one hand to slide the cover out of the way and the other hand to plug your cord into the outlet. When the plug is put into the outlet, the prongs hold the cover open.

 

But, if nothing is plugged in, the prong holes are covered, and a small child will be unable to penetrate the holes in the outlet. These self-closing outlets are vital when you have smaller kids.

The Takeaway

Electricity is a vital part of the way of life for anyone. But, there are safety concerns that any conscientious homeowner or business owner should address. The help of an experienced and knowledgeable electrician is invaluable in carrying out these complex measures to keep you and others safe.

 

Circuit interrupters and proper grounding of your home or business’s electrical system are crucial. Our Houston-based electricians can help you with proper servicing and installation of any electrical need.

 

Contact us today to ensure a safe electrical system for your home or business. Our electrical technicians look forward to meeting with you.