Your home's electrical system is not something that you would normally think about during your day-to-day routine. However, as soon as something goes wrong, it can disrupt your entire life. Understanding a few of the early warning signs associated with a wiring or electrical problem can help you identify such issues before they have the chance to grow worse and leave you sitting in the dark in your home.
Warm or Humming Outlets and Switches
One of the most common, but also one of the harder to notice, signs of electrical issues within your home is when there is a humming sound coming from your outlets or switches. This can point to exposed wiring behind the panel, or too much power being directed to that outlet or switch because of faulty installation. In some cases, you will even be able to feel heat emanating from the panel itself, which is a serious safety concern.
Burn Marks
The natural next step from the above point is any sort of burn marks around outlets or switches. Dark marks, even if they appear to be small, point to sparking and small electrical fires starting because of damaged or old wiring. This is a massive concern, and you should not use that outlet or switch until a professional has had the chance to inspect it and determine the next step.
Dimming and Inconsistent Lights
Another common sign that your electrical wiring needs a checkup that is fairly hard to miss is spotting lights that dim when a major appliance comes on, such as the air conditioner or washing machine. This points to an electrical system that is simply not able to properly handle the electrical load that your home demands of it, which can cause performance issues for your lights and appliances. Damaged wiring that is no longer able to properly provide power can cause lights to flicker on and off continuously, regardless of if another appliance is using electricity at the same time.
Tripped Breakers
Finally, the last sign of electrical issues that you should watch for is if your breakers in the electrical panel for your home are continuously tripping and requiring a reset. Sometimes breakers are simply old and need to be replaced, which is fairly easy to do, but other times it points to an electrical system that is simply out of date and no longer able to provide an adequate amount of power, which can require rewiring parts of your home and replacing the electrical panel itself.
Contact an electrical contractor like Dunedin Electric Co., Inc. for more information.
When we purchased our first home, we realized that there was a problem with some of the electrical work. Some of the lights flickered when we turned them on, and others really seemed to have issues if they were left on long term. I thought the issues was the light bulbs themselves at first, so I replaced several of them. However, after making those changes, it seemed like things were still having trouble. I began going through and thinking carefully about how to identify and resolve the challenges, and it occurred to me that working with an electrician could be helpful. I turned to the professional for help, and it was a good thing I did. Read more about electricians on this blog.