Hot Weather Stress on Faulty Wiring
Top 5 Suburbs named

Electrical faults in homes can result in fires when home owners flick the switch to cope with soaring temperatures, overloading the electrical system with the heavy demand of air conditioners, Archicentre warned today.

Illegal wiring detected during a property inspection

Robert Caulfield, Managing Director of Archicentre said such overloads on poorly maintained, illegally installed or older electrical systems can result in injuries, deaths or severe damage to houses or appliances. In some cases the excessive demand on electricity to keep cool has closed parts of Australia's electrical grids.

Mr Caulfield said "people usually associate house fires with winter, however, it is important to recognise electrical safety and fire hazards exist all year round. We have become particularly concerned by the number of summer house fires recently reported throughout Australia.

"Of particular concern are the number of houses our architects pick up during pre-purchase inspections where previous owners have undertaken their own illegal wiring. Often the buyers of older homes are totally unaware that they could be buying a death trap."

Archicentre carries out over 20,000 pre-purchase home inspections and design reports each year, and is concerned about the number of homes inspected found with electrical faults in a survey of over 100,000 homes.

"Victoria tops the list of electrical faults in the homes inspected with 34%, followed closely by New South Wales with 32%, South Australia 31%, Western Australia 22% and Queensland 21%."

The top five areas in Victoria for electrical faults in homes inspected include:
1. Heidelberg 53%
2. Preston West 49%
3. Ivanhoe 49%
4. Heidelberg Heights 49%
5. Kew East 46%.

New South Wales Electrical Faults
1. Marrickville 56%
2. Armidale 55%
3. Summer Hill 53%
4. Dulwich Hill 52%
5. Stanmore 52%

Queensland Electrical Faults
1. Kedron 36%
2. Kelvin Grove 36%
3. Highgate Hill 35%
4. Holland Park 35%
5. Annerley 33%

Western Australia Electrical Faults
1. Bayswater 43%
2. Victoria Park 38%
3. Albany 34%
4. East Victoria Park 34%
5. North Perth 31%

South Australia Electrical Faults
1. St Peters 51%
2. Semaphore 46%
3. North Haven 46%
4. Largs Bay 45%
5. Myrtle Bank 43%

Archicentre in its home safety inspections for older persons in Victoria finds there is a constant need for the monitoring of fire safety around the home with the most common faults being the use of double adaptors for radiators, clutter of newspapers and deadlocks on doors without keys on the inside.

"There are around 11,000 house fires in Australia each year, resulting in the deaths of approximately 60 people, often children. Even if no one is hurt, the emotional cost of losing a home, with cherished possessions and memories, is traumatic.

"Many families owe their lives to working smoke alarms as you can't smell smoke when you are asleep. Smoke alarms are an essential early-warning system to alert you and your family to the dangers of fire and smoke."

Research by Australasian Fire Authorities Council (AFAC) found that the absence of a smoke alarm can increase the possibility of a fatality by 60%.

The Fire Authorities have also reported that nearly one third of all victims in fatal house fires are seniors. Seniors are more likely to be injured or killed in a house fire than any other group.

www.archicentre.com.au

Media Enquiries:
Robert Caulfield Managing Director Archicentre Mobile: 0412 381 306
Ron Smith Corporate Media Communications Archicentre (03) 9818 5700 Mobile: 0417 329 201

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Hot Weather Stress on Faulty Wiring Top 5 Suburbs named

Hot Weather Stress on Faulty Wiring
Top 5 Suburbs named