So, what’s it all about?

Follow this simple guide to keep your Home Safe. These essential  Proactive Home Maintenance tasks can be carried out on the weekends that the Clocks change. Its a great time to carry out these simple jobs to keep your home safe.

Nothing too strenuous. You probably won’t even need any tools. Just a few checks which could save you a bit of money, and possibly, even your life.

I’m recommending that you carry out the following FOUR checks:

The reason I suggest this weekend, is because its when the clocks change.

It happens twice a year, which is the perfect interval for carrying out these checks.

On Sunday morning, you’re going to be scratching your head, trying to remember how to reset the clock on the Microwave and the Oven.

(How many of us give up with clock in the car, and decide that living 6 months in the future is infinitely preferable to wading through a huge car manual trying to find the tiny paragraph dedicated to the overly complicated clock setting?)

Anyway, I’m not really worried about the car. Its your Home, and in fact, you & your family,  that matters this weekend. Keeping your Home safe is simple, and quick. Let me explain…..

1. Give your RCDs a bit of exercise

The clocks going back (or forwards in March) is the trigger.  It happens twice a year, and that’s the recommended interval for exercising your RCDs.

PLEASE DO THIS TEST BEFORE YOU CHANGE THE TIME ON ALL YOUR CLOCKS

Who knew an RCD needed exercise?

Ok, I’m sure some of you are also asking what one of those is. If you’ve never heard of them, then please check out our Useful post on Tripping RCDs.

You can find out what they do, why they’re not only a good idea, but actually essential for keeping you safe. You’ll even learn what to do if they start tripping.

All you need to do, is press the little TEST or  (T) button on the RCD, and it will switch off. (The lever will drop down) This will turn off the power to a number of circuits.

Just reset the RCD by pushing the lever back up (Some Consumer Units need you to push the lever down a bit further, before you push it up).

Some of you may have a nice modern Consumer Unit, where each circuit is protected by its own RCD. These are called RCBOs. The same principle for these. Just press the TEST button, turn the circuit off, and then turn it back on.

That’s all you need to do.

Why should you do this?

RCDs (or RCBOs) play an essential role in keeping you safe. They monitor your electrical installation constantly. If they detect an imbalance in your system, they will switch off the cirucit which is causing the problem.

So, if you drill into a cable, or something nibbles through a cable, they should turn off immediately. You need them to be in tip top condition, so that they do this as quickly as possible, and save your life.

What if my RCD won’t switch off?

If this happens, then your RCD is not doing its job properly. It proves how important it is to carry out this test.

You can try to manually turn the RCD off and on a couple of times, using the lever. This might encourage it to wake up and do its job properly.

I recommend that you contact an Electrician on Monday, and arrange for them to come and check it out for you. You need your RCDs to be working. An electrician can test them properly for you. 

2. Check your Smoke Detectors

I know we only think about these when the annoying chirping starts as the battery starts to fail. That generally happens in the winter, when the temperature drops in the middle of the night. Batteries struggle more in the cold weather.

 Just press the Test Button on your Smoke Detector, and make sure that it goes off. If you have inter-connected Smoke Detectors, this should also set all the other Smoke Detectors of in the House.

Smoke Detector with Expiry Date

While you’re up the ladder, just check the Expiry Date on the Smoke Detector. If it’s already long past. You need to replace them.

This is something you can probably do yourself. Check out our post on Smoke Detectors.

If your Smoke Detector is quite old, check our Safelincs Website, where you can find a list of compatible Smoke Detectors.

If you’re not sure, then call an electrician.

3. Check Your Water Supply

Hopefully you know where your mains water supply turns off. If you don’t, you’re not alone. However, you’re about to rectify that situation.

Check out our post, “How do I turn my water supply off?

Its absolutely essential that you can turn your water off quickly in the event of an emergency

This is something that we mention all the time on our DIY Courses. Water damage is extremely expensive!

Why do you need to do this?

If you have a sudden plumbing emergency, then knowing where your Stop Tap is, that it’s accessible and that it turns off is going to save you loads of money.

Over time, Stop Taps can seize up. You really don’t want to find that yours has done that, when there is water pouring out of something that it shouldn’t be.

Take it from me, there is nothing like the sound of gushing water to stop your brain thinking clearly.

 If you discover that the only way to turn your water supply off is outside on the pavement, you’re going to make sure that you have something helpful to lever the cover off the water stop tap easily accessible for future use.

If you come on our Essential Home Plumbing Course, we talk a lot about making sure you’re prepared for these eventualities.

Water damage is potentially very expensive. Insurance Companies really don’t like it.

So…..

If you’re in Bristol, and you’re struggling to turn your Stop Tap off, check out Bristol Water’s Website. They have lots of helpful information and support.

If you live outside Bristol, check out your own Water Supplier. If you’re lucky they might be one of the helpful ones

 And finally……

4. Check your CO Detector

You can’t see or smell Carbon Monoxide. It will kill you very quickly.

If you have a Gas or Oil Boiler, or a Solid Fuel stove, then you should have a working Carbon Monoxide Detector somewhere near by. Often this is just “hanging about nearby” and not actually fixed down. In this case it can be easily mislaid. Make sure that it is not under a pile of magazines, or under the sofa. Its not going to work properly there

Please check that it works and that it is in date.

If you can’t find one, please go and buy yourself one AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

You can buy a battery-operated Carbon-Monoxide Detector from any local DIY/hardware Store, or Supermarket.

 No excuses on this one. Please do it. It will save your life!

If you don’t have a Carbon-monoxide Detector,  that suggests that you may not have had your had your boiler serviced recently.

A Gas or Oil Engineer will check that you have one when they service your Boiler, and persuade you to get one.

Please get your boiler serviced every year. It will save your life

That’s it. You’re done. You have kept your Home, yourself and your family safe for the next six months

If you’re a parent, maybe this is a good exercise to involve your children in. The more peple who know to deal with an emergency, the better.