Electrical issues in your home are no fun to live with. They also pose some very serious hazards to yourself and your family, so you should never ignore them.
Electrical rewiring may sound like an intimidating and enormous project, but it’s actually quite straightforward for an electrician, and you shouldn’t be too overwhelmed to consider it. But is it something you need?
We’ll explain what electrical issues we’re talking about and exactly what risks you’re living with if you don’t get professional help with those issues. Here are some strong indicators that your home needs electrical rewiring. If you spot any of these signs, it’s time to hire an electrician.
Why Your Electrical Wiring Is Critical to Your Safety
When a home has major electrical problems, there are a lot of minor irritations and expenses. But there are two major threats to your home and your family you must not minimize, because they can be deadly. These are electrocution and electrical fire, and they can happen at any time. Heed the warning signs and don’t risk it!
- Blown Fuses: The first sign that you’re far overdue for some serious overhauling of your home’s electrical system is if you have a fuse box instead of a modern electrical panel.
- Tripped Circuits: If you do have an electrical panel, also known as a circuit breaker box, it’s meant to be a fail-safe. If circuits are getting tripped frequently, something is wrong. The panel is probably unable to handle the demand of your household’s electrical needs.
- Lighting Issues: Flickering or dimming lights might be a sign of a haunting on a funny ghost-hunting show, but in reality, they’re an indicator of big electrical problems. And if one light bulb burns out more often than it should, it might be an issue with that fixture. If it happens in multiple fixtures, it indicates a broader electrical problem.
- Electrical Smells: Your home’s wiring, electrical panel, or fixtures should not create any smells whatsoever. A hot, dry, acrid, burning smell is a very bad sign. Electrical issues can also smell like overheated metal, melting plastic, or even dead fish! Electrical fires create ammonia in the air, which is also generated by decomposing fish, so the smells can be surprisingly similar.
- Electrical Sounds: Strange crackling, clicking, sizzling, or buzzing noises that you can’t identify the source of could be coming from the wires inside your walls. You should also take prompt action if you hear any sound coming from the electrical panel itself.
- Scorch Marks: Any smudges of black on outlets, light switches, or your electrical panel could be scorch marks from incidents that could easily have turned into tragic house fires.
- Heat: Your outlets and light switch plates should never feel hot to the touch. Wiring issues can also cause unexplained hot spots on walls, where overloaded or shorted wires are creating excess heat.
- Sparks: You should never see sparks or an arc of electricity when you plug or unplug something from an outlet.
If any of these signs are familiar, don’t risk letting the problems continue! You need a qualified electrician for rewiring services in Blythewood, SC.
Contact Fulmer Heating & Cooling today for an electrical expert in Columbia, SC!