Fire Safety Tips for Your Major Appliances

Between 2015 and 2018, firefighters responded to over 350,000 house fires per year. House fires have many causes, and some of them result from your daily use of appliances.

So, how can you keep yourself as safe as possible?

We want to help. While that statistic is scary, appliance fire prevention is in your hands. We’ve got a few home appliance fire safety tips to help you out.

Use as Directed

Most appliance fires can be attributed to people misusing their appliances, even if they don’t realize that they’re doing so. How often do you actually read the manuals for your new appliances? You should, the instructions are there for a reason.

Proper use can look different depending on the product. For example, for microwaves, you never want to put anything that may include metal inside. For space heaters, you never want to leave them around anything that could be meltable or flammable.

These things might seem obvious, but they’re easy-to-make mistakes when you’re being careless.

Routine Maintenance 

With your larger appliances, maintenance is key if you want to keep you and your family safe.

This doesn’t have to happen all the time, but it should happen when you notice that something is amiss. It’s easier to ignore your problems until they become big problems, but by the time they’re big problems, it’s already too late.

Location is Everything

With smaller appliances, you need to be careful where you put things. Small appliances are almost always fire hazards.

You want to avoid putting these appliances anywhere that there is, or might be, a leak or any kind of water. This means putting microwaves too close to the sink or space heaters too close to the bathtub. This could trigger electrical fires.

You also want to make sure that anything nearby is heat resistant.

Don’t Leave Unattended

You mustn’t leave most of your appliances unattended when they’re on.

This means that you shouldn’t leave the house when your washer, dryer, or dishwasher is running, and you shouldn’t go to sleep when your stove or slow cooker is on. Nearly everyone does this from time-to-time but know that you’re risking a fire in your home.

You don’t have to sit and watch your appliances, but you should be near enough that you can hear a problem if there is one.

Use the Right Power Supply

When you live in a small space or an older space that doesn’t have enough outlets, it’s tempting to overload a power cord with all of the appliances that you can fit on it, right?

Not everything should be plugged into a power strip. You risk the strip overheating and potentially causing a fire (or a melted strip and ruined cords).

How Many of These Fire Safety Tips Do You Follow? 

It’s normal to not be on top of your appliance safety habits, but these fire safety tips should help. Don’t put your home at risk of a serious fire through ignorance or laziness. Be vigilant and stay on top of your appliance use.

If you’ve experienced a house fire and you need restoration, we want to help. Contact us so we can learn how to help you best.