How Safe Is The Electrical In Your Home
How Safe Is The Electrical In Your Home - A DIY Inspection
The following is going to be a super easy guild for you to quickly assess if you have any points that may need immediate attention. This is in no way intended as a replacement for an inspection by a licensed home inspector or an electrician.
You wont need any tools to this quick walk around inspection
Things to look out for.
Do your outlets have grounds. If you look at the power outlet which you plug your appliances into and you only have two slots for each plug, then there is a good chance you don’t have a ground wire protecting the outlet.
There are a couple of way of adding protection to the ungrounded circuit. The best and costliest way is to rewire the circuit completely. Another less costly option is to protect the circuit with a GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) breaker.
Do you have outlets close to the sinks? In many areas there are rules on how far power outlets can be to the sink. What was once considered acceptable is not seen as dangerous. The dangers of electricity are multiplied when water is involved. If you have outlet in a kitchen or bathroom close to the sink you should get an electrician to change them for GFCI’s
Do you have ‘hard-wired’ smoke detectors? Hard-wired and interlinked smoke detectors don't cost much more than a regular battery one, but with the interlink you will hear it all over your house. This could save you life if there is a fire in another part of your home you are unaware of. I would highly recommend installing hard-wired smoke detectors on each floor of your house
Do you have an under rated service? Take a look at you electrical panel or breaker box. There will be a main breaker most likely at the top. On the leaver of the breaker will be the apm rating of the panel. If you have a 60 or 70 amp panel you may be uninsured! Modern houses are supplied with 100 or 200 amps service and panels and most insurance companies won't insure a house if it has less than 100 amps. If your panel is less than 100 amps you should call a licensed electrician who has experience with upgrading service and get a quote to upgrade.
Along with the undersized service you will probably have old circuit breakers protecting your home. Circuit breakers only have a like of approximately 15 years, after this the level of protection diminishes considerably.
A good electrician will be able to help you out with any of the issues listed above. If you are located in the Calgary AB Canada area you can contact me on
Panel Upgrade Experts 403-774-7460
www.panelupgradeexperts.com
[email protected]
The following is going to be a super easy guild for you to quickly assess if you have any points that may need immediate attention. This is in no way intended as a replacement for an inspection by a licensed home inspector or an electrician.
You wont need any tools to this quick walk around inspection
Things to look out for.
Do your outlets have grounds. If you look at the power outlet which you plug your appliances into and you only have two slots for each plug, then there is a good chance you don’t have a ground wire protecting the outlet.
There are a couple of way of adding protection to the ungrounded circuit. The best and costliest way is to rewire the circuit completely. Another less costly option is to protect the circuit with a GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) breaker.
Do you have outlets close to the sinks? In many areas there are rules on how far power outlets can be to the sink. What was once considered acceptable is not seen as dangerous. The dangers of electricity are multiplied when water is involved. If you have outlet in a kitchen or bathroom close to the sink you should get an electrician to change them for GFCI’s
Do you have ‘hard-wired’ smoke detectors? Hard-wired and interlinked smoke detectors don't cost much more than a regular battery one, but with the interlink you will hear it all over your house. This could save you life if there is a fire in another part of your home you are unaware of. I would highly recommend installing hard-wired smoke detectors on each floor of your house
Do you have an under rated service? Take a look at you electrical panel or breaker box. There will be a main breaker most likely at the top. On the leaver of the breaker will be the apm rating of the panel. If you have a 60 or 70 amp panel you may be uninsured! Modern houses are supplied with 100 or 200 amps service and panels and most insurance companies won't insure a house if it has less than 100 amps. If your panel is less than 100 amps you should call a licensed electrician who has experience with upgrading service and get a quote to upgrade.
Along with the undersized service you will probably have old circuit breakers protecting your home. Circuit breakers only have a like of approximately 15 years, after this the level of protection diminishes considerably.
A good electrician will be able to help you out with any of the issues listed above. If you are located in the Calgary AB Canada area you can contact me on
Panel Upgrade Experts 403-774-7460
www.panelupgradeexperts.com
[email protected]