Spring cleaning tips
As spring begins, many of us love to get busy cleaning the house, starting the gardening, and recycling our old electrical items. Follow our top tips to stay safe.
A good spring clean involves more than just vacuuming up the dust behind the sofa. It’s a chance to tackle some simple electrical safety checks.
With more than half of all accidental house fires starting in the kitchen, it’s vital to keep this room sparkling clean, especially getting rid of dirt, dust and crumbs blocking vents on appliances which can cause electrical products to overheat.
Warm spring days are a great opportunity to begin sprucing up the garden but be aware of the risks before you start. Make sure you have RCD protection for your electrical tools and that they have been stored properly over the winter and are still in good working order.
This is also the time of year for a good declutter, but please ensure you are recycling electrical products properly, including batteries. Remember almost all electrical items with a plug or a battery can be recycled and it’s easier than you may think.
Visit our pages below for more top tips related to spring cleaning.
What to look for when spring cleaning
- Test your smoke alarms and replace the batteries if required.
- Check you have RCD protection in your fusebox.
- Make sure plug sockets are not overloaded.
- Ensure your plugs and sockets are not damaged.
- Check all cables and leads are in good condition.
- Check your light fittings are not visibly damaged and that any downlighters are in good working condition.
- Check you are not storing combustible materials around your fusebox, electricity meter, or electrical appliances.
In the 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.
You should contact either Trading Standards or Citizens Advice to register your concern.
If you want to forward us supporting documentation and images relating to the product, we can objectively review its safety. Send it to enquiries@electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk
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.
To find a registered electrician near you, please go to the Find an Electrician section of this website where you will find information specific to your region of the UK.
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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