AK Electrical
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Installing An Outdoor Socket
When correctly installed by a fully qualified emergency electrician near me, an outdoor socket can be a real asset and useful feature to have in any Cheshire home. With one in place, it means that you don’t have to have an extension lead running out of your house everytime that you want to use an electric hedge trimmer, lawnmower, or any power tools in your garden, thus minimising the chance of any trips or falls happening as a result of errant power cables in your house. For this reason, it can be beneficial to have an outdoor socket at both the front and the back of your property.
Where an outdoor socket is placed on the outside of your house is determined by a number of factors, including the size of your drive or garden, what it is likely going to be used for, and the location of a supporting wall or structure that the socket can be fixed onto. Based on these factors, an emergency electrician near me can advise where the best spot to place an outdoor socket on your Knutsford, Wilmslow, or Daresbury home is.
Although there are numerous different outdoor sockets available on the market to choose from, for safety reasons, you should opt for one that comes with a built in residual current device (RCD). The reason why this is important is that in the case of any faults occurring, such as cutting through the power cable whilst mowing the lawn or trimming a hedge, it will automatically trip and cut off the entire electricity supply.
Whilst these types are typically more expensive, in addition to featuring an RCD, they will also have a cover over the front of them that completely covers the plug, as well as some of the start of the cable, one it had been clicked down and shut into place. This helps to prevent the plug from being accidentally tugged out.
When an outdoor socket has an exterior plastic housing, it means that it has an ingress protection (IP) rating of 56. This means that it is protected and will still fully work even when exposed to dust or water. Some of the better models of outdoor socket that are even more expensive may have an IP rating of 66 or 68, which means that they are even better protected against the elements, although for most homes, an IP 56 rated outdoor socket is more than adequate.