If a water pipe leaks and you experience residential water damage, you might think that it’s the end of the world. However, if faults wiring causes a fire, you can lose your home in under an hour and that’s if you are lucky enough no one is home when the fire starts. Therefore, in household electrics, safety should be the top priority. From a damaged toaster to a flickering basement light, all the common problems should be addressed right away to ensure the overall safety. Some problems are easily fixed, while others require professional electricians to get involved.
Faulty light switches
Don’t you just hate it when you enter a room at night, flip the light switch, and nothing happens. Well, this problem is quite common, as the wear and tear damage the switch from the inside. Circuits, springs, and wiring soon prevent the switch from functioning properly.
It can either jam or get detached completely so will be clicking in vain. When this happens, go to a hardware store and purchase a new, more modern light switch you can replace yourself with the most basic of tools. Just make sure you don’t buy the cheapest model available, as these are often a fire hazard.
The danger of an electric shock
Bad electrics are ritually to blame when someone gets an electric shock. This experience is rather nasty, as even mild shock (including static ones) will shake you up well, enough to realize the full danger of electricity.
Since electric shocks occur when you turn an appliance or a machine on or off, you need to move away from the source of power. Connected a new lighting fixture but aren’t sure it will explode when you turn it on? Flip the switch while hidden behind a wall for safety reasons.
The role of electrics circuit breakers
Appliance with high wattages like a hairdryer or a microwave is known to trip electrics circuit breakers. Essentially, this is a good thing, because a circuit breaker is supposed to protect users from electric shock.
When the circuit is broken, the chances of a fire or an electric shock are nonexistent but this still indicates a problem. Namely, you might want to lower the power setting of the device you were using when the circuit broke. Sometimes, especially in older structures, a single circuit cannot support several appliances simultaneously.
When to call an electrician in?
Modern circuit breakers are easy to flip back on but not every electrical issue can be solved easily. Furthermore, if you know nothing about residential electrical grids, calling in a professional electrician is the right move to make.
In fact, a domestic and commercial electrician can be called for various reasons, from installing lights in your home or business, to upgrading or repairing switchboards. If you’re lucky to find a reliable local electrician, they will be available 24/7 and could come fast in case of an emergency both at work and at home.
What if power sags and dips?
The biggest killer of appliances is the voltage, i.e. its oscillation. Sudden dips and sags in the power supply can be attributed to the state of the local power grid but more often than not, this issue happens because of the use of substandard materials in your home grid. Like we have said earlier, buying cheap insulation and wiring can easily result in a fire.
Inadequate lighting levels
Once you notice that the lights throughout the house are either too bright or unnaturally dim, there are two things possible explanations. Firstly, the lights inside the house might have different wattages, as al the globes need to be identical. The second explanation is that the main neutral connection is bad, so you need to call a professional electrician to fix the issue.
The light bulb keeps going out
If you have noticed that there is a particular place in your house where you seem to burn light bulbs too fast or they flicker often, make sure the wattage is not too high (a 100W bulb cannot fit a 60W socket). Furthermore, the insulation can move too close to the light and cut the circuit (this problem is easy to fix). Again, if the people installing your home electric grid did a shoddy job, the problem might lie in a bad circuit or main wiring.
Why do I keep getting high electricity bills?
There are several reasons why your electricity bill seems to be rising from month to month. Firstly, your provider might have increased the rates without letting you know. Secondly, you could be dealing with electrics devices that are causing frequent power surges. Thirdly, the hot water system that runs on electricity could have underground leaks in the piping that you need to patch up.
Many things can go wrong with the wiring in your home but the 8 scenarios explained above the most common. Knowing why the basement light is flickering or why a light switch won’t respond is important, so you know how to handle these problems.
