Our guide to staying safe at Christmas

90 mallinson road

london sw11 1bn

tel: 020 7924 1421

mob: 07866 724718

Steve Bishop

Welcome to Circuit Shorts

A brief monthly email offering advice on all things electrical including ideas on saving money on your electricity bill. If you would like to discuss any of the topics we cover please contact us.

This month's topic is

Staying Safe at Christmas

We all like the idea of chestnuts roasting on an open fire and singing carols by candlelight

at this time of year, but the modern day reality is that Christmas wouldn’t work without

electricity. That’s why this month’s Circuit Shorts is a brief guide to giving your electrics a

festive health check. Finding an electrician willing to come out on Christmas day may not

be easy, and even if you do manage to drag one away from peeling the sprouts, he won’t

be cheap! Therefore prevention is better than cure.

Will your Christmas lights be twinkling?

For a lot of us, at this time of year, last year’s dusty old tree lights come out of the

cupboard. If you’ve had them for a while or you think they may be damaged, buy new

ones. At S W Bishop Electrical we always recommend buying LED ones as they use far

less electricity than traditional filament lights and, as they operate at low voltage, there is a

much lower chance of them giving you an electric shock.

Here are a few twinkly tips for you:

Always read the manufacturer’s instructions.

Always switch lights off and unplug them when you go out or go to bed.

Never use them outdoors unless they are specifically designed for this purpose. If

you do have outdoor lights make sure they are connected through an RCD

protected socket. (An RCD is a potentially life-saving device designed to prevent

you from getting a fatal electric shock. It can also protect against some electrical

fires. Find out more about RCDs in next month’s Circuit Shorts).

Don’t allow children or pets to play with Christmas lights.

Keep lights away from flammable decorations and other combustible materials.

Lastly, if you’re buying new lights, keep the box and repackage them carefully

before sticking them back in the cupboard. Don’t stuff them into a carrier

bag! More time consuming I know but this time next year you’ll be glad you made

the effort!

Are you overstuffing your sockets?

As well as last year’s Christmas lights, another item brought out of the cupboard at this

time of year and dusted down is the trusty old extension lead as it often provides a quick

and easy solution to gaining extra sockets for the Christmas lights and all the freshly

unwrapped gadgets. These can be a godsend but just because your extension lead has

space to plug in four appliances it’s not necessarily safe to do so as some appliances use

more power than others. Overloading can cause overheating, and in extreme cases, fire.

Never plug appliances into an extension lead or socket that use more than a total of 13

amps or 3000 watts of energy.

Here are a few tips to avoid these things from happening:

It is better to use a bar adaptor on a lead, rather than a block adaptor but tuck it

out of the way as it’s easy to trip over it after a few Christmas sherries;

Don't plug adaptors into adaptors;

Only use one adaptor per socket;

Check the rating of an adaptor before you plug in appliances;

Turn as many appliances as you can off at night (this not only prevents fire but also

saves energy to help the environment);

Make sure you know where your fuse box is so you can reach it quickly in the

event of circuit tripping;

Finally – ask your electrician to install some more sockets! Much safer and better

in the long term.

If you’re not sure whether you have too many gadgets plugged in, the Electrical Safety

Council has created a socket overload calculator, which you will find on our website at

www.swbishop.co.uk/socketoverloadcalculator.

At S W Bishop Electrical, we recommend that you should have an electrical inspection on

your house every 10 years. If you can't remember the last one, now might be a good time

to make sure your electrics will withstand the circuit overload which usually comes with

Christmas. Many problems occur because there is too much electrical demand placed on

the system and a lot of older electrical systems were not designed to cope with today’s

demand for electricity. The last thing you want is for your electricity to fail on Christmas day

– no lights, the children won’t be able to play with their games consoles and lots of the

other gadgets Santa bought them and, worst of all, no turkey. And Buona Sera will be

closed so there's no chance of nipping out for a plan B pizza. Not even a Good King

Wenceslas Special (you know the one, deep pan, crisp and even. Sorry bad joke).

Will your turkey be cooked to perfection?

If your cooker has been showing any signs of unpredictability lately, now may be the time

to get it checked out. If, however, you have decided the old cooker will collapse under the

pressure Christmas puts on it and you’ve decided to order a new cooker to arrive in time

for Christmas, we at S W Bishop Electrical advise that you make sure you have the

correct supply outlet for the electrical cooker you have purchased, ie:

32 amp outlets for a freestanding electric cooker that consumes greater than 3KW; or

13 amp outlets for a single electric cooker / gas ignition supply using less than 2.99KW.

Also ensure that there is a suitable electrical connection within 1.5 metres of the required

location and if you’re installing it yourself, do check your warranty as it could be invalidated

if not fitted by a qualified electrician.

We hope you have enjoyed our festive Circuit Shorts. All that’s left is to wish you a safe

and happy Christmas from Steve, Sandra and Rosie at

S W Bishop Electrical.

Steve Bishop

Mob: 07866 724718

steve@swbishop.co.uk

www.swbishop.co.uk