Electricity efficiency and safety in the home
It is important to be safe and efficient around electricity in the home to ensure the enjoyment and safety of all the family.
Tips for maintaining electrical appliances and equipment
Use these simple tips for keeping electrical appliances and equipment in good working order and making your home safe:
- Never use a faulty electrical appliance, or one that has a frayed cord, cracked or broken plug, or any appliance that has given someone any kind of shock. Frayed or damaged cords should be replaced immediately. Many old plugs do not have safety barriers between the connections – replace them with modern plugs.
- Do not attempt to repair faulty electrical appliances yourself. Leave it to a qualified repairman or licensed electrician
- Have appliances serviced in accordance with the manufacturers instructions
- Clean the lint filter in your clothes dryer after each use
- Electric blankets should be checked at the start of each winter for damaged wires, plugs, leads and hot spots. If the electric blanket is damaged, you should get it replaced immediately
- Remove any build-up of materials around the electric motor of exhaust fans (eg. fluff, dust, lint, etc)
- Regularly clean range hood filters
- Clean ovens and hot plates regularly to prevent the build-up of spilled fats and burnt foods
- Do not touch or attempt to repair a loose, cracked or broken power point switch. Cover them up and have them replaced by a professional. Contact a Registered Electrical Contractor.
- Household cleaners, detergents and insecticides may cause cracking and create an electrical hazard if sprayed on electrical accessories.
Efficiency
Look for the energy efficiency label to help you select household electrical equipment purchases.
Energy labelling is designed to make the energy efficiency of a product a key feature in its selection. Household electrical equipment that must have energy labels includes:
- air conditioners
- refrigerating appliance
- dishwashers
- clothes washers
- clothes dryers.
Storage water heaters are subject to minimum energy performance standards.
ESV approves the equipment mentioned above so that it may be supplied or offered for sale. It also conducts compliance audits of retail showrooms to ensure that relevant equipment is registered and correctly labelled for energy efficiency. Check testing of equipment is also undertaken to verify and ensure that the claims made by manufacturers and importers on the energy label are correct.
More information
Further information about the categories of equipment and the energy label itself maybe be obtained from http://www.energyrating.gov.au.