A lot of us these days upgrades our phones every year or 2. Upgrades our tablets, laptops, TV's cars etc but we never consider upgrading our homes.

Many older houses still only have 1 single or 1 double socket per bedroom. Too few sockets in kitchens and lounges. I see far too often people using an extension lead plugged in to an extension lead simple because of a lack of sockets. This has a chance of overloading your socket causing it to burn out. A relatively easy fix, but is a potential fire worth it?

What about smoke alarms? Do you have any? Are they battery powered? When did you last change the battery? Nowadays there are some really great mains powered smoke alarms that come with a 10 year tamper-proof battery so you can just replace it every 10 years. www.fireservice.co.uk says you're twice as likely to die in a house fire if you don't have smoke alarms than if you did have them. The cost of added 3 mains powered, interlinked alarms could be as low as £35 a year.

How about your fuseboard? Just because it's old it doesn't make it unsafe but upgrading it will offer you a lot of additional protection from electric shock. This too will work out to a relatively insignificant amount over the years. 

Regulations are constantly changing and better products are being added to the market to make us safer in our homes. It might well be worth spending your hard earned cash on a home upgrade rather than a tech upgrades.

Haydon Turner-White

01249 698 255

www.wattcoelectrical.co.uk