Your home appliances are expensive, and essential parts of your home. Whether your refrigerator, stove, or dishwasher, you likely use your home appliances daily – if not multiple times a day. However, these 5 electrical mistakes can destroy your home appliances.
1. Misusing Extension Cords
Extension cords are only for temporary use. If you’re using extension cords permanently, or as a long-term solution, you could risk causing damage to your home appliances. Not only that, but large appliances should never be plugged into an extension cord, even for a short time. If you don’t have a nearby outlet for your appliance, look into installing one. This is because high power capacity appliances, such as a refrigerator, have high power capacity and should be plugged directly into a wall outlet.
2. Skipping Regular Electrical Maintenance
Regular electrical maintenance can help you catch problems early before they become major. You could have an electrical issue in your home and not even know it and that’s why it’s so dangerous to not have your home routinely inspected by a professional. By continuing with your regularly scheduled electrical maintenance, you can hopefully catch these problems quickly, as well as make sure your electrical system is up to code.
3. Harmful Surges
This is the main reason why professionals recommend a surge protector in all homes! Surge protectors can help protect all your electronics from power surges that can damage them. Electrical surges can be caused by lightning strikes, damage to power lines, faulty appliances and bad electrical wiring.
4. Using The Wrong Power Strip
Using a wrong power strip could cause a lot of damage to your appliances. Power strips come equipped with different ratings, so you’ll always want to make sure the power strip you’re using can handle the amount of power required by your appliance. If you use a power strip that isn’t rated to handle the right amount of power, it could not only overheat your appliance, but it could also start a fire.
5. Improper Grounding
Proper grounding is essential for any electrical system. Poor grounding can cause the lights to flicker and dim in a home, which usually gets worse when you go to turn on a large appliance. This can cause the lights to dim even more, and may even make it so the appliance can’t operate properly due to the lack of power. Not only that, but if your appliances are improperly grounded and you experience a power surge, it could also damage electrical appliances, cause electric shock, or even start fires.
Contact OnTime Service For All Your Electrical Needs in Birmingham, AL and Surrounding Areas!
The pros at OnTime Service are here for all your electrical needs. Schedule your electrical inspection or repair now. Your comfort and safety is our top priority. Contact us today at (205) 872-1944 or online by filling out our form here.
