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Home Safety

Home Safety

Protect your family with eHow’s home safety tips, and sleep easier at night. Keep loved ones secure with advice on buying and installing a home alarm system, smoke detectors and carbon monoxide sensors. Learn to burglar-proof a house and install a safe, too. Is tornado or hurricane season on the way? Get tips on preparing your house for high winds. eHow even has suggestions for planning an escape route in case of any home emergency.

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  • Safety Issues With Home Power Generators

    Electricity provided by home generators is every bit as lethal as commercial power. Home generators also emit poisonous gases, use flammable fuels and get hot. Important safety factors include...

  • How Close to Power Lines Should You Build a House?

    Safety concerns, electric and magnetic fields, house resale values and building codes are considerations people must make when building a house near power lines. Regarding EMFs, after two decades...

  • How to Activate an Existing Security System

    A home invasion can be a traumatic experience. After such an ordeal, your sense of safety in your own home could be shattered. Help yourself feel safe by utilizing a security system. If you have...

  • How to Install Home Outdoor Security Cameras

    Modern electronic technology, specifically digital technology and closed-circuit television (CCTV), has made it simple for anyone to purchase and install their own home security cameras. Security...

  • How to Troubleshoot Intercom Systems

    Intercom systems can be used to communicate between different rooms and doors using wireless "intercom stations." Intercoms use digital signals to control which wireless intercom stations are...

  • How to Survive A Power Outage When It Is Cold

    Most of us have had power outages from time to time. These are some steps to help you survive the power outage when it is cold. Remember, it may take a little while before the power is turned back on.

  • Safe Use of Portable Electric Tools

    Portable power tools can be a great help on the job site, or for remodeling, and repair work done around the house. But there are basic safety rules you should follow whenever you are using...

  • How to Replace a Security System Backup Battery

    Security systems have a backup battery in case of power outage or an intruder disabling your power. Backup batteries are designed to power your system for six to eight hours in the event of a...

  • Overview of Electrical Safety

    Electricity is a necessity for most people in the United States, but it also needs to be treated with respect to avoid serious injury. Understand and follow the basic rules of electrical safety at...

  • Emergency Procedures for Utility Failures

    What do you do when the power suddenly goes out? Whom should you call if you smell a natural gas leak? During power outages or other utility failures, you suddenly have a lot of things on your...

  • About Using a Battery Backup With a Generator

    Generators provide AC power and are capable of high outputs for extended periods of time. Batteries put out DC power and can only provide power for short periods of time, making them a poor choice...

  • How to Prepare Your Family for A Power Outage

    Losing power at home can be extremely disrupting to your normal daily routine. Although the majority of us live in areas where power is often restored in a reasonable amount of time, families need...

  • Is a GFCI Circuit Breaker Equivalent to Surge Protection?

    Since the discovery of electricity, mankind has harnessed a great source of power; however, this beneficial discovery has inherent dangers. An electrical accident that is not immediately brought...

  • What to Do When There Is a Downed Electrical Wire?

    A violent storm has just gone through your area and your neighborhood is a mess. You walk outside and notice that one end of an electrical wire has disconnected from the pole and is hanging from...

  • What Is the Best Way to Power a House with a Generator?

    During a power outage, a generator is one of the best tools to have on hand. With it, you can power your air conditioner, refrigerator, water pump or even your entire house. There are various...

  • How to Prepare Yourself for a Winter Power Outage

    If you are prepared for a possible power outage in the winter, you will lessen your anxiety and raise your comfort level if the need actually arises.

  • How to Troubleshoot an Intercom System

    Intercom systems are used in many applications and settings, usually to facilitate communication or monitoring between different parts of a building or site. Problems that typically arise with the...

  • How to Install an Emergency Lighting System & Siren

    Power failures are bad enough, but what happens if the power fails in the dead of night and important equipment needs to have backup electricity? Would you know the power failed while you were...

  • Electrical Safety Tips To Watch for Outside

    Bringing the power of electricity to the outside of your home can make your life a lot more convenient, but don't forget to always put safety first. Outdoor electrical appliances can pose some...

  • How to Effectively Survive And Stay Safe During A Hurricane

    If you were ever stuck in a hurricane unprepared then you know how it feels to be helpless during this time. If you live in the southern or eastern belts of the United States then hurricanes are...

  • How to Make a Hurricane Kit

    If you live anywhere near the ocean, you should have a hurricane kit stored in your house. This article will help you prepare your hurricane kit so that you and your family are not left unprepared...

  • How to Replace Wired Smoke Detectors

    There are three types of "wired" smoke detectors in homes. Two types tie into an alarm system and the third ties into the house wiring system for power. 120-volt smoke detectors have batteries so...

  • How to Find a Biometric Safe that is Safe

    Finding the biometric safe that will provide the ideal protection for your belongings can be a challenge. Fingerprint technology is growing in popularity. Here is how you can find a biometric...

  • Electricity Safety Tips

    Electricity is the flow of electrical power. It is a form of energy that allows us to light, heat or cool our homes and gives power to work electrical appliances. When not used property,...

  • How to Protect your Electronics & Appliances from Lightning Strikes & Power Surges

    Having serviced electronics for 20 years, I've seen a lot of damage caused by both direct and in-direct lightning strikes. Some of the things you can do to help prevent damage, thus saving you...

  • How to Make an Emergency Power Generator from a Car or Truck

    In times of emergency the best thing that one can do is be as prepared for the unexpected as possible. Of the numerous items that would be of great benefit, a power generator ranks amongst the top...

  • How to Prepare Yourself For a Prolonged Power Outage

    How to be prepared for a power outage.

  • How to Backfeed Your Portable Emergency Power Generator Into Your House Without a Transfer Switch

    Emergency generators are nice to have when the power goes out because they keep the power flowing to the most important electrical devices in your home. So you go out to buy one only to find out...

  • How to Prepare for a Hurricane Well in Advance of One

    During the middle of summer, a tropical wave can quickly form into a tropical storm and in a matter of a few days into a hurricane headed for someone’s shore. Unfortunately many people are caught...

  • How to Prepare for Power Outages In Your Home

    If you live in a rural area, you experience power outages more often than in the city, so you learn how to be prepared for bad storms.

  • How to Use Extension Cords or Power Strips Safely

    Misuse of extension cords and power strips are one of the most common safety hazards in the home, and also one of the most preventable. Here is how to make your home or office safer in use of...

  • What Is a Generator Transfer Switch?

    A generator transfer switch is a device used to change a home's source of power from the main utility line to a generator, and back again. A transfer switch also protects each power source from...

  • How to Cook Without Electricity Due to a Hurricane

    When you loose electric power due to a hurricane or tropical storm coming through the area you live, it can be daunting. But there is hope when it comes to preparing adequate meals during a power...

  • How to Prepare Yourself for a Hurricane

    Now that hurricane season is here, it is important to be prepared in case it hits the area where you live. If you are going to stay in your home during inclement weather, you need to be able to...

  • How Alarm Systems Work

    The most basic component of an alarm system are the alarm sensors themselves. These sensors are placed on all protected doorways, windows and other entryways, designed to trigger the alarm when...

  • How to Troubleshoot Your Own CCTV Surveillance System

    So you've grown to depending on your CCTV camera surveillance system... and it goes bonky... Like a bat without sonar, it can quickly feel like someone turned out the lights. I know that I feel...

  • How Does a GFCI Work?

    On a standard electrical outlet, there are three holes. The left hole is larger than the right hole and is called the "neutral" slot, the right hole is known as the "hot" slot and the middle hole...

  • How to Prepare for Summer Power Outages

    Summer power outages can be storm-related, or due to a problem at a substation or they can be caused by rolling/planned power outages due to extremely high use of energy. Whatever the reason,...

  • What Is a Fuse Used for?

    When the electricity in the whole house shuts down and everything stops, you have just experienced a blown fuse. At night when a fuse blows, it can be frustrating. The fuse might seem too small to...

  • How to Prevent House Fires

    In the fast paced culture of today, this may one of the most preventable disasters that we tend to overlook. Thousands of families are left homeless due to negligence, poor maintenance or just...

  • Workshop Safety Tips: Disconnecting Power for Power Tool Maintenance

    When changing power saw blades or making adjustments, always disconnect power tool power source. Learn to disconnect the power when changing saw blades in this free woodworking safety video from a...

  • Workshop Safety Tips: Extension Cords

    Make sure workshop power cords don't have any nicks or tears. Learn about organizing power chords for a workshop in this free woodworking safety video from a wood shop instructor and professional...

  • How Do Portable Generators Work?

    Portable generators are used to provide limited amounts of electric power for a home or building during power outages. In isolated areas not reached by power lines, the generators serve another...

  • How to Create a Safe Working Area When Using Power Tools

    It's essential to create a safe working area when working with power tools. Power tools can quickly become dangerous when they are handled incorrectly or used in an unsafe environment....

  • How to Deal With Winter Power Outages in Maine

    All Maine residents learn at a very young age that winter power outages are not a rare occurrence; they are the norm. In a state that regularly falls well below freezing temperatures during the...

  • Energy Alternatives

    The general acceptance of global warming and the 2007-08 surge in fossil fuel prices have come together to attract interest to green, alternative energy in a way never before seen. Today,...

  • About Emergency Power Supplies

    There are a number of different kinds of power supply alternatives to think about. Various natural and man-made disasters take place frequently. This could happen in the heat of the summer or...

  • How to Survive a Winter Power Outage

    Power outages, they are something we have all dealt with and they can certainly be a nuisance. However, a power outage that occurs as a result of winter weather can certainly be more than a...

  • How to Prepare for a Power Outage

    The electricity has gone out! No lights! Panic! Not quite. Relax. These steps will help prepare you to be ready for the unexpected 'blackouts' and power outages. They happen everywhere. ...

  • How to Survive when you have no power

    If a blackout or power outage occurs, it can be very scary. You're often left out in the dark (Pin intended) about what's going on. But you can make it through.

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