Cleaning electrical socket covers

[cozietoesie]

Is there any (with due caution) relatively safe way to clean electrical socket covers in situ? I've got some pretty gunky ones (smeared dark fingerprints etc) in various parts of the house and I'm reluctant to just replace them all.

Turn the switches off and use a cheap baby wipe.

I'd get some warm soapy water with cloth wrapped over one finger, then scrub away. You could turn electric off to be 100% safe.

Damp microfibre cloth?

Just wipe them with a damp cloth.

Magic sponge

Thanks All. If my user name suddenly stops posting, I won't have managed the due caution bit.

BTW I assume you mean the actual socket faceplates. if you've got the ones that are supposed to make sockets childproof, and you are in the UK, remove them and throw them away because they are dangerous.

No, I haven't - but interestingly, I started cleaning this morning, very gingerly with the merest hint of bleach spray on a kitchen towel, and it worked a treat until I removed years of grime from one hidden behind an armchair - used only for a standard lamp and the Xmas lights - and found that what I'd thought were dirt marks was actually a cracked cover with a semi-scorch mark emanating from one pin hole.

The electrician comes early next week.

well worth a look! Sockets behind furniture are quite vulnerable to being bashed.

We've been using it - in a sort of 'reach down and slot in the plug' way - but I'm paranoid about electrical safety so knowing now that it's been damaged, it's out of bounds until checked out/replaced.

I could probably do it myself but I have a very good electrician who could zip through that and a couple of other little jobs in as much time as I'd need to make a cuppa. Given that next week might well be taxing, I'd rather have him do the job.

nothing wrong with giving a good chap some work!

Electrician now been and completed that job and a couple of little other ones on the list. (I maintain mental lists and then ask people to just go through all the small things. They don't seem to mind that way of working in the least - and it's surely a way to get rid of minor irritants.)

The (new) electrician's mate also turns out to be a handyman to trade so I now appear to have two handymen to call on. Oh Joy.