According To the Fire Department, This Is the Most Dangerous Extension Cord Mistake To Avoid

There are many items at home which we take for granted. Most of these include our electrical gadgets whom we think to be foolproof. Well if they are of good quality and make, then they do withstand rough use as they are manufactured to operate as safe as possible but that doesn’t mean they are immune to misuse. Such factors make everyone take advantage of an extension board and use every socket to plug in some appliance or another. There is something called electrical load and even your safe extension board can give way which is why you need to abide by extension cord safety tips from the ESFI (Electrical safety Foundation International)

1Extension cords can be fire hazard

Power banks and extension cords as everyone knows are a body of multi-plug sockets attached to a long cord. But! Just because your power board has that many sockets, it doesn’t really mean you should use all of them. Even if there are extra sockets or more than usual, the board will not safely supply power to all. Extension cords are meant to be used as a temporary solution to provide power to your appliances. It should never be permanent as it can deteriorate over time which is when it can become a high-risk electrical hazard that can start a fire in your home.

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2Space heaters should never be used with extension cords

The biggest risk to your extension cord is plugging in a space heater which the Umatilla County Fire district warns never to do and with good reason. In their latest Facebook post, the fire department warned people saying

“The weather is getting colder, and people are pulling out their space heaters. We just wanted to remind you that you should NEVER plug a heater into a power strip. These units are not designed to handle the high current flow needed for a space heater and can overheat or even catch fire due to the added energy flow.”

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3The Umatilla County Fire District warning

According to the Umatilla County Fire District, electric extension cords are not designed to take the load of a space heater. The board can catch fire due to overheating from the extra electrical load or energy flow. The district board has posted the guideline on their Facebook page so that everyone is made aware of such issues that can prevent a major fire.

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