Since almost everything involved in our day to day lives uses electricity, electrical problems happen to everyone from time to time. Especially if you live in an older home, it’s common to accidentally misuse an outlet or cause a surge in your power. However, even if these issues begin as accidents, they may later have some serious consequences for you and your home.
To help prevent electrical issues, we’ve listed the most common types you may encounter and how to prevent them below!
When you move into a new house or buy a new device, you imagine the best places where everything should be plugged in. But nothing puts a damper on those plans like not having an outlet where you need it. The easy, band-aid solution many people use is to find an extension cord. However, extension cords are supposed to be temporary solutions. This is especially true for cheaper models with poor protection. Even worse, most households use multiple extension cords in one home.
If you don’t have enough outlets in a particular room, it’s time to call an electrician to add additional options. If you must use an extension cord, make sure to use a 14-gauge heavy-load extension cord or a UL-listed surge protector. This will prevent electrical fires from starting in your home, which is a common occurrence in houses with multiple extension cords.
It’s a tough situation when you open your power bill and are shocked by how high it is. While HVAC issues can sometimes result in higher-than-normal bills, your electrical wiring may also be the culprit. If you’ve tried fixing the issue by adjusting your AC and heater without avail, then it’s probably time to call an electrician and see what is causing your bill to spike. Depending on the cause, you could be wasting money and putting your house in danger.
Electrical surges can happen to anyone, even if there is nothing wrong with your electrical wiring. This is because surges are sometimes caused by outside sources, such as lightning or power company maintenance. The best way to prepare against electrical surges is to fortify your home with the correct equipment called surge protectors.
The good news is that we’ve discussed power surges and how surge protectors can protect you in a previous blog.
If you notice that you’re changing light bulbs in your lamps or overhead lighting too often, you might have a larger issue. Common causes for frequent burnouts are incorrect electrical wiring of your house, incorrect wiring of your circuits, overly high lightbulb wattage, and poor connection between a bulb and your lamps.
Investigate the problem the next time you buy light bulbs. Try them out across multiple lights. If it just happens on one particular device, then it could just be something wrong with that lamp.
If they all burn out regardless of their location, it could be a light bulb manufacturing issue or even a wiring issue. You’ll need to call your electrician to help uncover the true issue.
You’ve probably had to use the electrical panel in your home before, to turn on and off your power during power surges and installing large equipment. Inside the panel are circuit breakers, which are switches that control electricity in your home. When too much electricity is being used in a certain area, circuit breakers trip, meaning they turn off to immediately stop the flow of electricity into that room.
If this constantly happens in your house, then something is wrong with your electricity flow. Call an electrician so they can discover the cause of the issue and how to prevent it from happening again.
For your convenience, you can request an appointment in one of two ways:
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