When heating your home to keep yourself and your family snug this winter the last thing you’ll want to worry about is little fingers being burned on hot pipes or the classic: important items falling down behind your home radiators.
One of the most important things you can teach your child is safe with a hot object, 2% of Emergencies in the home include a burns case with children between the ages of 1- 4. Taking time to make sure they understand ‘Hot’ equals ‘Ouch’ should be a top priority and couldn’t be simpler to show but must be repeated and taken seriously.
To avoid these types of accidents with your home radiators, we have put together some helpful tips to keep the children and your purse contents safe, at affordable prices, and with minimum effort!
Our first piece of advice would be to purchase a radiator cover, despite the sleek new designs available for fixed wall radiators, some people still find central heating an eyesore.
Radiator covers come in two forms, you can opt for soft padded covers or hard covers. The padded covers are ideal for infants and toddlers as it saves bumps and bruises as well as burns, make sure you have the correct measurements for your units when looking for your next purchase.
Hard covers can be a metal or wooden frame with a screen to ensure less restriction of heat distribution. These come in a range of different styles to suit the look of your home, and the majority of retailers, offer a large selection of colours, although many of them are white, so if you do want to brighten them up with a lick of paint it wouldn’t be an overwhelming job.
The added bonus of getting a hard cover, aside from the fact that the whole structure including pipes would be hidden, would be the benefit of an extra shelf. From a parent’s perspective, either fresh or experienced you can not underestimate the importance of storage areas off the floor!
Our next obvious port of call would be to look at home improvement stores for both foam corner protectors and pipe insulators. Some retailers will have special products geared towards children with bright colours for fun safety features. If you are not impressed by the idea of seeing foam constantly or the inevitable pieces that will be picked off them, there is a rather simple, prettier alternative: Hessian rope.
With Hessian rope all you need to do is glue, or stick using adhesive tape, the tip of the rope to the piping closest to the floor and then wind the rope around, making sure to keep it tight all the way up until you reach the top. We strongly advise you use a heat resistant adhesive and ensure that the last piece is glued to the back of the pipe to save it being pulled free. This straightforward method can stylishly insulate the hot metal and keep tiny hands burn free. If you want something little less DIY then consider radiator sleeves to cover the pipe work. There is a huge selection available from Trade Radiators that can match whatever colour or design of your home radiators.
A cheaper option to the hard covers would be to buy a regular fireguard. These also come in a wide range of designs to suit a variety of home decor. However, this choice will include some more DIY to fit the guard to the wall and avoid it being pulled over, along with your tumbling toddler. This could easily be done by drilling two holes at the bottom of the frame and two in the top corners and then screw it to the wall. This option also allows the most heat to escape, without the hot surface being accessible, as hard covers and padded covers will obstruct some of the heat given off from the radiator.
Whichever method you choose, be sure to thoroughly test your home radiators before letting your toddler loose on it. Keep those little hands happy and healthy!
