In case you have wall mounted oil filled radiators in your home or you’re about to buy one, please take a look at these important safety tips. It truly is better to be safe than sorry. It’s very easy to think these days that all appliances are fool-proof and completely dependable. After all, there’s a whole swathe of national and EU regulations that govern everything sold in the UK from silicone ducks to bananas, let alone the subject of this article, oil filled radiators.
It’s certainly true that heating appliances in the house are much safer than in the”old days”. My grandmother used to warm her cold old house through an upright paraffin heater that scared the living daylights out of me as a child. It stood on the carpeting, about three feet tall, a great cylinder with a veritable lake of flaming paraffin in the base. Often in those days at this time there would be stories of so-and-so in the next street “knocking the heater over”; the paraffin creating an instant burning sea that in some cases caused severe damage to the house and even injury to the occupants.
These days, we are, it is true to say, most looked after by the “powers that be” to a much greater extent that in yesteryear, and wall mounted oil filled radiators have certainly not slipped under the radar in this respect. There are complex regulations not just for electric radiators but for differing types of heating appliances. However , people will be people and it is still possible to turn an oil filled radiator straight into something rather dangerous. Here are a few things that will make your radiator a veritable hazard – please do not try any one this at home:
Running an extension cable from the electricity socket to the radiator: In itself, this is not dangerous, but the trouble comes when the rating of the extension cable, i. e. the maximum wattage that it can handle, is less than the power utilized by the oil filled radiator. This is surprisingly easy to achieve, because many electric radiators consume 2 . 5 or even just three kilowatts, and there are a lot of really cheap extension cables out there that are not rated to handle this higher level of power. The danger is that the thinner strands of wire in a lower-rated extension cable will overheat, causing a true risk of fire.
Using an External Timer: If you need an oil filled radiator to come on and go off in the certain time, my advice is to get one with a built-in timer that’s designed to do just that. These radiators come with built-in safety circuitry to switch them off, for example to prevent over-heating. Controlling them by plugging them towards an external timer can, in some circumstances, cause the safety circuit to become disabled. Ultimately, this could cause overheating of the unit to remain unchecked.
Placing wheeled models where they can roll or be pushed by children: In cases where a child pushes the radiator, or it rolls because it is not on a flat surface, the flex can become taut this also is clearly dangerous. As well as being a trip hazard, a taut cable can also loosen the connection in the plug and also in the appliance causing a possible short-circuit or an exposed live wire. Then of course the radiator on their own could go careering down a staircase for example. Not only is this a heavy object on the move, but it is also a particular filled with very hot oil that you really don’t want to unleash on an unsuspecting public. So , make sure your oil-filled radiator was in a secure location, firmly in place on a level floor. Click the following for information about wall mounted oil filled radiator reviews.
It has to be said that oil filled radiators usually are, as a class of appliance, not especially dangerous, and if you avoid the above pitfalls, your unit should supply you with many years of safe heating.