Faulty wiring in the home is hazardous and responsible for thousands of fires yearly. However, a well-informed and diligent homeowner can keep their family and house safe by learning the warning signs of faulty wiring and addressing them before a major issue develops.
- Dimmed or Flickering Lighting Fixtures: Light fixtures do not require much power to run at full brightness, so dim or flickering lights are an easily identifiable issue caused by faulty wiring. A deeper problem is usually at play if the issue persists even when new bulbs/fixtures are used in the same location. Power-hungry appliances on the same outlet might be siphoning away some of the power going to the lights. Changing the outlet the lights are plugged into might solve the issue, but consistent flickering or dimming of lights when no apparent reason exists is a sign that the wiring itself may be to blame.
- Visibly Damaged Wiring: Sometimes the most obvious solutions are the correct answers. If you notice any wiring that has visible damage, such as frayed ends or scratch/bite marks, precautions should be made to ensure they do not fail in the future and lead to a bigger problem,
Any homes with a history of pest issues should hire a certified electrician to double-check their wiring and ensure no physical damage was done by the pests. - Strange Odors/ Burning Smells: If you ever notice a strange smell, it might indicate that you have electrical problems stemming from your wiring. The most obvious and pertinent issue would be the smell of fire or smoke. These issues should be investigated and fixed at the earliest possible to prevent a more significant problem from occurring in the future. Furthermore, any strange smell, even if not recognized as smoke or fire, could be caused by a material, such as plastic or bedding, catching on fire and releasing unfamiliar odors.If the wires are burning or smoking, unplug everything from that circuit and manually trip the breaker. Faulty wiring in the process of heating up and burning prevents a real and present danger if left unattended for long,
- Discoloration or Scorch Marks: An easy fire prevention method to ensure the safe use of appliances is inspections of the outlets themselves. An outlet with visible burns or discoloration is a sign that the wiring behind the outlet is heating up beyond the point of safety. Even if the outlet looks okay at a glance, there could be slight distortion in the covering of the outlet from high heat exposure. Similarly, an outlet that seems fine visually might still have faulty wires behind it, and an outlet where you can feel excessive heat is a sign of danger. Homeowners should not use any outlet with these defects until safety inspections occur.
- Frequent Blown Fuses: Good, high-quality wiring will be tough to overload, so frequent blown fuses or breaker trips indicate that something is not working correctly behind the wall. If no items with inordinate power demands are currently being used on a circuit, the possibility of a fuse blowing should be zero. Excessive use of things such as extension cords might be the culprit if you are experiencing frequent breaker trips. However, the everyday use of an outlet should never be enough on its own to cause this issue. If the problem persists, you can likely blame faulty wiring.
- Unfamiliar Sounds: Another of the most apparent signs of faulty wiring is strange sounds from the wall or outlet. Almost no sound should be heard from the electrical current if correctly wired. However, damaged wires are prone to sounds from the current jumping across different areas of the wire. A proper professional should recognize and investigate even minor sounds emanating from light fixtures.
Electricity is nothing to fool around with – if you notice any of these things happening around your home, call Promise Electric immediately.
