All About Rewiring Your Home: Understanding The Necessity And Things To Consider

Here is How to Tell if There is a Problem in Your Home Wiring System, or if it Needs a Rewire

Some of these problems can appear anytime due to the faulty wiring of your home. However, it is advisable that you should generally get your home checked from time to time to avoid the possibility of sudden fatal accidents.

These checkups and rewiring should be done by the expert and experienced electricians like if you are in St. Louis, get it done by the best, electricians St. Louis is a great option to look for such work.

Beware of Signs of Potential Problems in Your Electrical System :

1. If the circuit breaker of your home regularly trips, or the fuses repeatedly blow up, it can be an indication of having fewer numbers of circuits than your requirement and you need a service upgrade.

2. If your electrical panel is over-amped or over-fused, it should be replaced immediately with the correct amp or circuit breaker. These are the worst kinds of electrical mistakes that can result in a hazardous fire and can burn down your whole house. 

3. Flickering or dimming lights can indicate a dangerous underlying problem rather than merely an inconvenience. This may sometimes appear as harmless and a normal incident. However, in some cases, they can forecast a looming disaster. Therefore, it is always safer to switch off that circuit or appliance and get it inspected. 

4. Your hot or discolored switch plates, cords, or plugs may signify circuit overload, which often results in residential fires. To prevent this, make sure never to use extension cords for appliances, especially for the major ones; plug them directly into a wall outlet. Also, heat-producing appliances should be plugged into separate outlets, never into the same one at a time.

If the extension cord is not used properly, it can initiate a fire due to overheating. Therefore, remember these few tips_

• Use them only temporarily.
• Don’t run them under the carpet.
• Check well before using; never use a defective one.

5. If the light bulb in your home frequently burns out in a socket, it is understood that the fixture is not meant for the bulb’s wattage. So, a bulb should be of the right wattage for any particular lighting fixture. Remember, a higher wattage bulb can result in a fire due to overheating.

6. A distinctive sizzling noise coming from the panel may indicate the possibility of having loose wiring. Loose wires are incredibly dangerous since they can cause both the electrocution and a house fire. Therefore, you must fix it as fast as you can to eliminate the possibilities of any kind of hazards resulting from it.

7. Usually, electrical wiring comes with plastic insulation, so, when an electrical fire starts, initially, it gives an acrid smell of burning plastic. However, it may be hard to figure out the exact location of the faulty wiring; it can be inside your wall or in the outlet.

In such cases, you should quickly turn off the main switch and call the electrician to get it checked. 

8. While sometimes small blue sparks can be seen when we plug in or out from an outlet, it can also indicate something of a high-risk; and can be the result of :

- An overload

- A short circuit

- Contact with water

- Old, overused outlets

- Faulty wiring or repair.

There are some telltale signs to recognize bad sparks:

1. If the spark has a burning smell.

2. If the spark is large or lengthy.
3. When the spark includes other colors than blue, such as yellow, orange, red, etc.
4. Loose outlets can be dangerous too, considering the fact that they can be vulnerable to external substances like water and result in a fire hazard.
5. Insulation of the electric wire provides protection from electrocution when touched by our skin or any other substances. Therefore, cracked, cut, or broken insulation must be avoided and replaced to ensure the safety of your family.
6. If you experience an electric shock when plugging-in or by touching a cord, it can indicate a number of issues such as,

- Faulty or outdated outlets

- Mishandling of electrical panel

- Electric wire  touching water

When to Check the Electrical System of your house in General

1. If you are living in a house that is 30 to almost 40 years old and still running with the same electrical system with which it was built, it needs to be checked and rewired even if it doesn’t show any sign of wiring related trouble.
2. As stated before, improper use of the extension cord can bring you trouble. If you are using lots of extension cords or using one for too long, it needs rewiring.
3. If you have made a significant renovation of your home or have bought major new appliances, you must check if your current wiring system is well fit for the extra load. You should also get it checked before using an outlet to see if it can support the appliance’s demand for electric supply.
4. If your house has ungrounded, two-prong outlets, it is considered vulnerable to power surges, electrocution, and short circuits, and should be rewired. And if not, then, it should be labeled as No Equipment Ground to avoid any fatal circumstance.
   
   5. If your home wiring is made of Aluminum, it may get damaged easily during the installation. Moreover, Aluminum may cause loose wires, since it can get expanded in places due to heat.

Aluminum can also cause overheating. Therefore, areas, where the temperature gets pretty high during summer, should rewire their house with copper wiring to avoid a possible electrical hazard.

Conclusion

While rewiring can be an expensive and troublesome job, it should not be taken lightly if any sign of a wiring-related issue appears or the situation demands it. You may feel tempted to fix them on your own to save the money but only do that if you are an expert yourself. Take wise decisions, keep your family safe.