While you may be aware of the fact that your home or office is in need of electrical work, you may find yourself struggling to decide whether these repairs or upgrades can wait or if they require emergency attention. Choosing to put off serious electrical repairs can put your property at a much higher risk for a fire. That is why it is so important that you are able to determine when the services of an emergency electrician are required and when you can safely wait until the next business day to schedule a service appointment. Thankfully, the three signs discussed below can help you to know when these emergency electrician services are required.
#1: You Smell A Burning Odor Coming From Inside Your Walls
Most electrical fires start in areas that you cannot easily see. This is because your electrical system was designed to remain tucked away in order to avoid unsightly wires and to help keep these wires protected from damage. Unfortunately, this also means that you may not be able to see an electrical fire until it has grown out of control. However, you will typically be able to smell evidence of an electrical fire. In many cases, the electrical burning smell associated with this type of electrical emergency will seem to be coming either from your walls or your air vents.
#2: There Are Burn Marks Around Your Outlets
Burning or melting electrical wires will often leave evidence on your electrical outlets. In many cases, this evidence will appear as a black burn or scorch marks surrounding the openings on your outlet covers. You may also see these same scorch marks on any electrical plugs that may have been plugged in at the time the problem occurred. If you see either of these indications of burnt or melting wires, it is best to call an emergency electrician right away.
#3: There Is An Unexplained Loss Of Power
Most electrical outages will be the result of issues with your supplier. For instance, if one of the supply lines in your area was damaged, you may experience an outage until this line is repaired. This type of power outage will often impact all of the buildings in your area and can be verified through your electricity supplier. However, a power outage can also be a sign of a more serious problem within your home's electrical system. If you experience a power outage that cannot be explained by a supply issue, you will want to call an emergency electrician right away.
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.