Make your house a safer place

Forget house fires caused by cats being sick over television leads or freak electricity storms. Some of the most common causes of house fires include electrical appliances being left on, hobs not being switched off properly or smoking in bed. (fireandfloodrepair.com)

We have all seen the ‘pull your finger out’ and check your smoke alarm adverts fronted by Julie Walters. The government started the campaign to try and cut down the amount of fatal and non-fatal house fires in the UK that happen every year. In the adverts a serious Julie Walters urges residents to check their smoke alarms regularly to avoid the kind of devastation that house fires can cause families and communities.

It is true that many of us do not think to check our smoke alarms as often as we should do, a ‘to do’ that goes to the bottom of the list but never gets done. This is despite the fact that checking is a simple task that merely requires the pushing of a button once every now and again. If the lives of your family are at stake then it is not a ‘chore’ that should be overlooked.

Even if you manage to get out alive and safe and the home insurance covers the material worth of your home, a house fire can still be devastating. Many irreplaceable items like photographs, jewellery, artwork and similar possessions with great sentimental value will be lost forever, never to be replaced.

The idea of all your worldly possessions going up in smoke is terrifying for most people. Unfortunately for most of us, the possibility of this happening seems a long way off. We always think that it will never happen to us. But it can, all too easily.

If you don’t even have a smoke alarm then you can call your local fire station or the Fire Rescue Service and get them to come to your house and fit a smoke alarm for free. Testing your smoke alarm weekly, planning an escape route and checking that all electrical appliances are correctly switched off in your kitchen are some of the things you could do to make your house safer from the threat of accidental fire. Smoke alarms can save lives but only if they work!

Smoke alarms should be fitted on each floor of the property to ensure as much early warning as possible. Alarms that are battery operated should be changed once every ten years to avoid deterioration due to age and natural wearing. You could also choose to fit a mains powered alarm however these may cease to work during power cuts - a time where you may be likely to use candles.

If you want more advice on how to protect your home from fire then visit http://www.fireservice.co.uk/safety/ where various leaflets on fire safety can be downloaded straight onto your computer.

Why Does My Washing Machine Smell?

It happens to all of us. It's a glorious day, perfect weather to dry the laundry on the line, but then you notice it, no sooner are you pegging up the pillow cases before you realise that the wash seems to have caused the load to smell worse than it did before it went in. So what are the causes for a bad smelling washing machine? And how can this problem be stopped?

Put simply, the cause of a bad smelling washing machine is dirt. Mould, grease, and slime can all build up over time and have become more common in recent years with trends for users to wash only at 40 degrees in order to conserve energy and money. Not only does washing at a consistently low temperatures reduce the machine's efficiency at killing bed-bugs and the affects of non-bio powder, but the inevitable build-up of grease can have serious consequences for the machine itself - not just your laundry.

Washing machine repairmen warn that the worst effect this can have is the corrosion of the drum aluminium - this can lead to a broken drum arm and the need for a whole new machine. Other problems include rotting hoses and gaskets, as well as blockages that can lead to overfilling.

Manufacturers have begun to recommend maintenance washes. It is advised that as often as once a month it is a good idea to put a very hot wash on without any laundry, but with the addition of a detergent that contains bleaching agents that may not be found in the powder or liquid you usually use. Alternatively, it is also possible to use soda crystals which are available at most supermarkets.

Other reasons for washing machine smells can include a lack of u-bend in the plumbing and can even be caused by what exactly is being washed out of the clothes, such as chemicals or stubborn strong-smelling substances. If maintenance washes still don't rid your machine of those darned smells, distilled white wine vinegar in the soap dispenser has also been known to have good effects.

A more extreme case of dirt can also be recognized in the form of black mould, and of course this isn't good for your machine. Warm moist places are a haven for black mould and can be hazardous to your general health, so it is good to have a good inspection of your machine once in a while to check if there is any lurking. Black mould can be removed with a scourer or an old toothbrush, and to be extra safe goggles and a face mask should be worn. A frequent maintenance wash should stop black mould build-up in the future.

For repair tips check out Washer Help, for a new machine check out cheap washing machines at dealtime.co.uk

By Sarah Maple

Post Office Home Insurance offers 10% more at Christmas

Post Office home insurance has announced that it will bump up cover over Christmas to protect Christmas presents that usually add value to contents.

In fact, throughout December, Post Office home insurance is increasing its contents cover by 10 per cent to ensure households are covered over the Christmas period.

The cover extension is automatic and comes at no extra cost, head of home insurance at the Post Office Emma Baunach, said:

"At this time of year people often have more valuables in their homes than usual. Over Christmas you don't want to be worrying about whether or not you have enough cover on your home insurance, so we have made the extra cover automatic to make sure you are protected."

The news comes as moneysupermarket.com urges Brits to check that their home insurance cover will include Christmas gifts.

According to research from moneysupermarket.com, 'top up' periods can vary on home insurance, and some insurers do not automatically increase cover at all. Commenting, Andy Leadbetter, managing director of insurance at moneysupermarket.com said: "We're all feeling the financial pinch at the moment, but Christmas often brings out the generous streak in people.

"Insurance is probably the last thing on people's minds as festivities take over but with expensive gifts and gadgets aplenty this is a prime time for opportunistic thieves to strike."

Highlighting the need to compare home insurance deals, Mr Leadbetter said: "With so many variations between insurers on seasonal uplift checking the small print with a fine-toothed comb is always a must, especially to safeguard from being underinsured."