A recent and very tragic house fire in Sheffield which killed five people has highlighted the potential risk posed by using faulty electrical charging devices.
Charging devices have become an indispensable feature of our daily lives: mobile phones, laptops, tablets, mp3 players – the list of items which need charging seems to grow all the time.
According to fire safety experts, the greatest risk posed by electric chargers is the cheap generic options which can be easily purchased online. Just a quick browse on an auction side such as eBay will return details of literally thousands of charging devices, all considerably cheaper than their branded counterparts. However there is no guarantee that these chargers meet UK and EU safety standards.
One of the main areas of concern is the use of generic chargers – the ones which are marketed as being compatible with a number of different devices. The danger posed by generic charges comes from the fact that different devices require different levels of charge: generic chargers run the risk of overheating because too much energy is put into the device, causing the battery to overheat.
Branded chargers really are the safest option because they have been specially designed to charge a particular device. Granted they’re not particularly cheap but where electrical safety is concerned, buying cheap chargers simply isn’t worth the risk.
