Staying safe in your living room
From outdated wiring to overloaded outlets, the potential electrical hazards are numerous in a living room, often the most-used room in a home.
The living room is a place to unwind and be entertained. But with an ever-expanding collection of TVs, gaming consoles, and entertainment systems, it is important to ensure everything is in good working order.
Regularly check the cables and plugs in your living room for signs of wear and tear, loose fittings, or damage. If you notice any damage, signs of overheating, or anything that just doesn’t seem quote right, stop using the appliance immediately.
Living rooms often have plenty of lighting in them, including table lamps and floor lamps. Flickering lights shouldn’t be ignored as it can be a sign that your electrical installation needs to be inspected by a registered, competent electrician.
With plenty of soft furnishings in a living room, be aware of keeping devices such as laptops and phones on hard surfaces. Don’t leave them on the sofa, chairs, or carpet as it could be a fire risk especially if the devices are charging.
Sockets and extension leads
Socket-outlets in a living room are often plentiful but also well-used. Make sure they are in good working order, aren’t showing any damage or burn marks, and aren’t warm to the touch. Overloading socket-outlets should not happen.
Extension leads are commonly used in living rooms but be careful you aren’t overloading them, especially with larger devices such as TVs.
Our socket calculator can help.
ALWAYS
- Charge devices on a hard surface such as a table or desk.
- Check cables and plugs regularly for signs of wear and tear.
- Contact a competent registered electrician to investigate suspected electrical faults such as flickering lights.
- Check all socket-outlets are in good working order with no signs of damage.
AVOID
- Overloading extension leads or sockets.
- Leaving devices such as laptops and phones on soft furnishings.
- Using any electrical device if there are any signs of damage.
In our product safety section
Stay safe with electrical products
Check plugs and sockets
Don't ignore burn marks, ‘arcing’ (buzzing or crackling) sounds, fuses blowing, circuit-breakers tripping, or if it feels hot to touch.
Unplug and contact the retailer, manufacturer, or a qualified repair technician.
Protect with an RCD
An RCD (residual current device) in your consumer unit (fusebox) protects you from electric shocks if a product is faulty.
If you don’t have RCD protection, use an RCD plug on the socket where the product is plugged in.
Fit smoke and heat alarms
Ensure there is at least one smoke or heat alarm per floor in your property. Fit enough alarms to cover all areas where a fire could start.
Test alarms at least once a month. Replace them every ten years or when the replace by date is reached.
Selected FAQs
Answers to commonly-asked questions we receive about electrical safety.
There should be a minimum of one smoke alarm per floor with a heat detector in the kitchen. You should fit enough alarms to cover all areas where a fire could start. Make sure they are tested regularly - ideally every week.
It depends on its condition rather than its age, if it has been tested and is in good condition and everything is working effectively there is no requirement to rewire. However, you may wish to consider adding RCDs to enhance the safety of the installation.
A qualified electrician will say if your home needs rewiring and what can be achieved within a specific budget.
You can find an electrician local to you here.
For privately rented properties, your landlord or letting agent should have given you a copy of an EICR carried out on your rental property, but also kept one for themselves, so you should be able to ask them for a duplicate.
For owner occupied properties, there may be a label in the fuse box / consumer unit that states when the last inspection and test was done.
If there isn't one present we would suggest arranging one with a registered electrician.
You can find an electrician local to you here.
If you have purchased an electrical product that you believe to be unsafe, you should contact the manufacturer to let them know of your concerns.
If they do not deal with this to your satisfaction, you should report the product to your local Trading Standards Office and they will be able to investigate further.
We recommend that you register all of your electrical appliances so that, in the event of a problem, the manufacturer can contact you to let you know about it. You can find out more here.
We recommend you don't bring home electrical products purchased from outside the UK.
However, an EU conversion plug could make some appliances safe for use in the UK:
- Check if the type of conversion plug is suitable for use with the EU plug.
- Follow manufacturer's instructions when fitting a conversion plug.
- Remember, travel adaptors are not a suitable or safe alternative.
- If the plug is not suitable for conversion, replace the appliance with a UK product.
Electrical products are recalled more regularly than you might think, but the response rate to a recall is often worryingly low. This means there are potentially millions of recalled electrical items still in UK homes.
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