Do you have cables running under a rug/carpet?

[SuperABunDance]

DD has brought her electricity topic home to learn for a test.
There's one section on safety:
Always unplug by pulling on the plug, not the cable.
Do not clean electrical items with water.
Never run cables under carpets or rugs.
Do not cover lamps with towels.

Is it so bad to have cables under a rug? We do, to stop everyone tripping over them and ripping the cables out. We have the tv on one side of the room and the cables to two speakers and the piano go under the carpet, under the sofa to the other side of the room. Is this really an issue? It had never occurred to me that this might be dangerous.

I wouldn't have thought it would likely be an issue for low voltage cables like those you mention, but could be for those that go to items like heaters?

If it's in a high traffic area, it could lead to the cable being worn and loss of insulation? Plus the carpet could suffer a wear pattern for thicker cables, so you'd have the problem of needing to replace a carpet quicker than you'd planned.

That sounds very unsafe. You won't knowi if the cable is become frayed or worn. Can't you take the cables round the perimeter?

No, there's no way to do without crossing the room. If we went round the perimeter it would either have to cross DC's bedroom door, front door and balcony door or cross the hallway, kitchen and dining area entrances.

Sounds like you need to have more plug sockets installed.

Yes it’s dangerous. Just have an electrician install another wall socket. Should be £80

Yes it's dangerous. People standing on the cable increase the likelihood of damage to the cable and it being under a carpet/rug means you won't see the damage.

They're speaker cables though, they have to be connected to the tv unit, not the wall.

They can be run inside the wall by an electrician. Much like the old CATV cables were run from satellite dishes through walls and then protrude to go in the back of the tv.

Or you can upgrade to wireless speakers if your TV is a smart TV and the sound will go over the wifi.

There's no wall where the speakers are, only doors!
We will probably eventually upgrade to wireless ones when we can justify the cost!

I used to run the phone cable under the runner in the hallway as the electric socket was opposite the phone one.

One day I was having problems with the WiFi and I lifted the runner (that I'd stuck down with carpet tape to stop it walking) and discovered that the insulation, both layers, was completely destroyed. Walking on it had completely ripped it from the wires.

So lucky it was the phone cable and not the power cable.

Can't you pin the cable with clips to the skirting / architrave round the doors. Or get conduit to run it around the room.

At the very least get those rubber cable protector things. Like this https://www.screwfix.com/p/d-line-cable-cover-light-duty-floor-cable-cover-1-8m-black/9345F?tc=EB9&ds_rl=1249401&gclid=CjwKCAjwx_eiBhBGEiwA15gLN4_EZiL6aXA2_pwyp7kTnkdK3Nb5nZsTK3_ItQRpX8qSJQ18kCqIrhoCHKIQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds