Home Safety: How to Childproof Your Home HVAC, Plumbing and Electrical Systems
As a parent, absolutely nothing is more critical than keeping your baby safe. Once your little ones start crawling, it seems like your entire home feels like one big hazard! The HVAC, plumbing and electrical systems are particularly concerning. With this guide from the Experts at Service Experts Heating, Air Conditioning & Plumbing, you can take steps to make sure your home’s essential systems are thoroughly babyproofed—which gives you one less thing to worry about!
Hands Off Your HVAC Vents and Registers
HVAC registers that fit over the air vents throughout your home often prove to be irresistible areas for small children. Here’s how to make sure they are safe:
- Fasten registers: If your floor or wall registers easily detach, fix them in place so you can be sure they aren’t going anywhere.
- Install childproof vent covers: These use a thin screen to keep small objects from falling inside without hindering airflow throughout your residence.
No Touching the Thermostat
Kids are fascinated by buttons and screens, which makes the thermostat a potentially fun and exciting plaything. Follow these tips to help keep curious toddlers from creating temperature control issues in your home:
- Install the thermostat up high: The thermostat should be installed at a level high enough where kids can’t easily reach it. Avoid placing objects near it that could tempt kids to climb up for a closer look.
- Lock the controls: Some thermostats feature locking functions to keep anyone from fiddling with the settings. If yours doesn’t have this feature, consider installing a thermostat cover that keeps curious kids from adjusting the temperature.
Make Your Utility Room Safe
If your HVAC system is located in your home’s basement or utility closet, this is a very important place for babyproofing. These are no places for [babies|children|infants or toddlers|any child}, so try these tips to keep them safe:
- Add doorknob covers: If a home’s utility area is enclosed, you have an easy task. Just put a childproof cover on the doorknob to stop your kids from opening the door to get inside.
- Use a safety gate: If your heating or air systems are in an open area, put up a safety gate to stop intrepid crawlers from getting too close to your furnace or water heater.
- Check your carbon monoxide detectors: Every house, mobile home or apartment should have at least one carbon monoxide detector on each floor, especially if you have gas appliances. But, plug-in versions are easy for kids to access. Consider mounting combination CO/smoke detectors on the ceiling for maximum safety.
Ways to Prevent Hot Surface Burns for Children
In many homes, the threat of burn injuries isn’t confined to your home’s utility room. Here’s how to protect your child from the dangers of hot surfaces:
- Install heat guards: Use a baby gate or specially designed heat guard around radiators, baseboard heaters or fireplaces to form a barrier between infants and potentially dangerous hot surfaces.
- Don’t use space heaters: A correctly adjusted and maintained heating system should heat your entire home, and there should be no requirement to use a space heater to endanger curious kids.
Tips for Babyproofing Your Home Electric System and Equipment
We all need electricity to run today’s appliances, but it also poses safety hazards for kids. Here’s how to babyproof your home’s electrical system:
- Use outlet covers: Building code mandates that new receptacles be tamper resistant. If you have older outlets, you can retrofit them with outlet covers. Choose sliding covers instead of plug-in styles, because clever children can sometimes pull off the plug-in styles.
- Cover cords: Exposed cords are a tangling risk. Use cord concealers or fasten them along the baseboards. Power strip covers are also helpful for preventing small children from reaching the sockets.
- Keep the electrical panel secured: If your electrical panel is somewhat low to the ground, make sure it’s adequately closed and locked to stop inquisitive kids from tampering with it.
Make Sure Your Plumbing Is Safe
Babies love playing in water. That’s why it’s so crucial to take preventive measures to make sure they stay safe around home plumbing fixtures like basins, tubs and toilets. Try these babyproofing tips for plumbing systems:
- Set the water temperature: Set your water heater to 120 degrees F to prevent scalding injuries. However, be careful not to turn the temperature down any colder than that, because this could risk microbial growth in the tank.
- Use a faucet cover: Has your baby ever knocked his or her head on the bathtub faucet? Cushioned covers are an easy way to stop this sort of injury.
- Try using toilet locks: Babies are often very curious about the toilet. A specialized lock prevents little ones from accessing unsanitary water or tossing toys inside, which can cause pipe clogs.
Service Experts Heating, Air Conditioning & Plumbing: Your Trusted Partner for the U.S. HVAC, Plumbing and Electrical Services
With these childproofing tips, you can easily create a protected environment in your home. At Service Experts Heating, Air Conditioning & Plumbing, we’re honored to help parents protect their children with quick HVAC, plumbing and electrical services in the U.S.. We strive to make a meaningful difference in the lives of all our customers—even the little ones! Contact Service Experts Heating, Air Conditioning & Plumbing at 866-397-3787 today for superb workmanship and customer service.