Warning Signs of Instability in Your Home’s Electrical System

Posted on February 18, 2019

Maintaining your home is vital to your family’s safety, especially in when it comes to your electrical system. Problems in the electrical wiring could harm you if you do not know the warning signs when they are displayed. Electrical issues can cause serious problems and put you at serious risks for danger. Knowing all the signs to electrical issues in your home is key to staying safe and keeping your home maintained to perfection. There are many different types of warning signs and issues that could arise with your electrical system, always have a professional electrician’s phone number at hand in case of an emergency! .

Circuit breaker issues

Circuit breakers are designed to protect your home and wires. They are designed to automatically trip and shut off the electrical supply when they become overloaded . By doing this, the circuit breaker is protecting wires from overheating and possibly starting a fire. When a breaker becomes old it can trip occasionally for no reason. If a breaker is tripping frequently, contact your professional electrician immediately.

Lights flickering

Some people may consider their lights flickering nothing but a simple nuisance. Unfortunately, those people could not be anymore wrong. When your lights flicker, it could be for a potentially

dangerous reason. While it may be just a loose light bulb, it could also be a poor connection at some point along a circuit. This is when you need to contact your electrician to solve the problem.

Odors

Some appliances put off a funny odor once they are first powered on, this is not something to be worried about. The real problem is when the odor is coming from an appliance that is not brand new. If there is any sort of odd smell coming from an outlet, then immediately turn it off and unplug anything connected. Consult your electrician and do not plug anything into the outlet until you receive answers from your electrician. If it is a fuse box or breaker panel that has the strange odor, then contact your electrician right away.

Faceplate warmth

If the faceplate to your outlets are warm to the touch, then that is never a good sign! More than likely you have an oversized electrical load that is operating on that unit. Monitor the warm faceplate you find right away to make sure if the problem worsens or not. Dimmer switches sometime become warm, which is the only exception to this but if they are too hot to touch then you have a problem. Contact an electrician if the problem persists.

Shocked

When touching an appliance, if you feel a mild shock then you need to raise your level of concern. The problem causing the appliance to shock you could be from improper electrical wiring or a ground fault in the appliance. Electrical shocks should be taken seriously, be sure to stay alert and aware of everything in dealing with your appliances.