Protect your home and personal property during a power outage.
While most homeowners consider power outages mere inconveniences, they actually have the potential to be incredibly dangerous. However, taking these precautions around your home will help you avoid any serious damages resulting from your home losing power.
- Let Your Pipes Drip
If you live in an area that experiences colder temperatures, a power outage can increase your risk for burst pipes. When the power goes out, your home loses its ability to heat itself. Without warm air circulating around your home’s plumbing, the water in your pipes can freeze and expand, causing your pipes to burst. To reduce the chances of this happening during a power outage, turn on all the faucets in your home, allowing them to drip slightly. This will keep water circulating in your pipes, which reduces the chances of it freezing over.
- Unplug Appliances
During power outages, it’s not uncommon to experience sudden power surges. Unfortunately, these surges can cause electrical damage to all connected appliances. This damage is particularly bad for electronics with sensitive parts, such as laptops, computers, and televisions. To prevent a power surge from affecting the appliances and electronics inside your home, make sure to unplug everything once the power goes out. You should only plug things back in when it appears that power is restored and once again stable.
- Reduce Fire Risk
As previously mentioned, a power outage means that you will not be able to use your heater. To warm up, many homeowners attempt to use their fireplaces or bring in portable, battery-operated heaters. Improperly using these heating implements can easily lead to a fire, so make sure that know what you are doing before attempting to use these alternative sources of heat. If you are not familiar with using these heating implements, it’s best not to risk it. Try to warm up by donning additional layers of clothing or, if it gets too cold, by leaving your home for a location that still has power and heat.
These are some of the steps you should take to keep your home and personal belongings safe during a power outage. Want another way to protect your home? Make sure you have the right homeowners insurance in place. For assistance with all your home’s coverage needs, contact the experts at Gant Insurance Agency in McKinney, Texas today.
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