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FIRE SAFETY
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| Don't go on�OVERLOAD!!!! |
Does your room look like this? |
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Then maybe your
room might look like this!
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Now that smoking anywhere in
residence halls is prohibited, we may be able to eliminate
one historical cause of fires in residence halls.
A fire that destroys much of a
student room's contents doesn't happen often -- about
once every three years.�
But, we average a fire a
semester -- usually small, often with smoke
and water damage to one or both roommates' belongings.
In almost every instance over
the last two decades, fires in resident rooms were avoidable
if the residents had used a little more common sense.�
The costs paid by residents to restore fire damages
were equally avoidable.
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The
leading causes of fire in student rooms are...
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Electricity, Smoking,
Candles, Cooking
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| Candles |
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Although "open flame devices"
(a.k.a. candles) are not permitted, candles have led
to room fires, especially when left unattended or placed
in flammable holders or holders that weren't stable
and tipped over easily.
Even when used carefully,
candles can cause more trouble than you realize.
Continual use of candles also
tends to deposit soot on the walls and will, over time,
begin to discolor wall surfaces.� We have seen rooms
where excessive use of candles has so blackened the
walls that the rooms needed to be repainted.� Based
on our paint history, if we can determine the rooms
required being painted prematurely, costs for repainting
will be assessed to the room�s occupants.
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Living
Safely with Electricity
Electrical fires happen more
often than you might think.� Electrical fires have been caused
by short circuits in electrical cords that ignited nearby
clothing, bedding, notebooks, trash cans, or other personal
items.� Sometimes, these short circuits have been caused by
extension cords overloaded by too many items.
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Another problem occurs when you
plug power cords into a wall outlet and then shove furniture
against the plugs, causing the cords to be badly bent.�
Doing this frequently can damage the insulation around
a power cord's wires, leading to a short circuit.
Anytime you find a damaged power
cord, or one that is hot to the touch, unplug the device
immediately and have it checked, repaired or replaced.
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| Use Heavy-Duty
Extension Cords or Power Strips! |
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Extension cords must be rated
to handle the amperage of the equipment it serves.�
Small, thin household extension cords (sometimes called
zip cords) are not recommended except for simple
appliances such as lamps or clock radios.
A very wise purchase is the "power
strip".� These multiple outlet strips usually have
4 or 6 additional outlets in a plastic or metal case,
a cord rated to handle a full 15 or 20 amp load, and
may have a built-in circuit breaker that may trip long
before the inconvenience of losing power to the rest
of your room.� But no matter how many power strips you
and you roommate have, you still can't exceed the rated
capacity of the circuit breaker or fuse for your room.
Always check the product label
on a power strip or an extension cord before you buy
to make certain it can handle the electrical load of
the equipment you�ll put on it.
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It's All About How Much You Use...!
You can safely use electrical
equipment and approved appliances as long as you don't overload
the circuit breaker or fuse.� As you plug in and use each
lamp, stereo, hair dryer, refrigerator, and coffee pot, the
total energy consumed at the same time will determine whether
the circuit breaker trips and cuts off the electrical supply
on the circuit.� Once you exceed the rated capacity of the
circuit breaker or fuse, which is either 15 or 20 amperes
(or amps), you'll lose power.� And should this happen to the
circuit when you are using your computer, you could lose what
you are working on.
Unfortunately, in many of our buildings,
you are electrically linked to one or more of your neighbors,
so you may not know how close a circuit breaker or fuse is
to being tripped.
Bedrooms in renovated suites and apartments
on South Campus and Anne Arundel Hall have a separate 20 amp
circuit.� Circuits serving living rooms are separate from
kitchens.� In our other halls, the distribution of circuits
is not as straightforward.� The wiring to rooms in a few of
the older North Hill halls have fuses on circuits rated at
15 amps.� In most of the other unrenovated halls, usually
two or more rooms share a single 20 amp circuit breaker.
Often, but not always, half of an individual
room's outlets are wired to one circuit breaker and half to
a different one; a single circuit supports two halves of two
different student bedrooms.� But it is not uncommon in some
locations to have a single receptacle in three, four or even
five rooms wired to the same circuit breaker.
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So, Watts Up?!!?
The principle amp-eating culprits
are hair dryers, coffee pots, refrigerators (when the cooling
unit kicks on), and (permitted in renovated South Campus
buildings only) microwaves.� The number of amps each electrical
device uses will appear on each product's case and is usually
stated as the maximum amount consumed during peak operation.�
Many devices don't necessarily use the number of amps shown
except when, for example, they are first switched on, when
heating elements reach their maximum, or when motors turn
on.
Typical Maximum Amp Ratings
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| 9-15 |
hair dryer� |
6 |
700 watt microwave |
| 3-5 |
Mac or PC |
2-4 |
19" color television |
| 1-5 |
printer |
1-2� |
VCR |
| 6 |
4 cup coffeemaker |
1 |
100 watt lamp |
| 8 |
10 cup coffeemaker |
2-6 |
mid-sized stereo |
Check your own products for actual ratings. |
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When circuit breakers or fuses blow,
call x4-WORK and we'll send someone to respond.
A few North Hill buildings do have fuse
panels instead of circuit breaker panels.� Residents should
not buy and/or replace their own fuses.
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| back to safety
and environment |
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