Your home is a lot like a human body—each of the different parts must work together cohesively in order to ensure smooth and reliable functioning day after day. If the plumbing that runs through your home is like your veins and arteries, then your electrical system is a lot like your nerves. And much like your human body, when things start to wear out or something goes wrong, you can see symptoms elsewhere that point to the problem. Over time, your electrical system will wear out, prompting you to need to re-wire your home and replace its nervous system. Here are a few signs that you should consider replacing your electrical system soon.
Frequent Blown Fuses or Tripped Breakers
If you find you’re constantly making trips outside to replace fuses
or switch on one or more breakers after plugging in an appliance shuts
off half your house, then your electrical system probably isn’t
designed to keep up with your needs.
Dimming or Flickering Lights
Your lights should normally stay at a pretty constant brightness. If they
are flickering or dimming without any outside influence, you could be
overloading your circuits or have a loose connection.
Hot Switch Plates or Cords
These are signs that you could be over-amping your sockets, which dramatically
increases the chances of a house fire.
Buzzing or Sizzling Sounds
If you hear a low-dull hum or even sizzling sounds coming from one of
your electrical sockets, your wiring can’t handle the current being
passed along it. Unplug some of your devices and contact an electrician
as soon as possible.
Arcs or Sparks When You Plug Something In
If you plug in a device and you see a brief spark shoot out from the electrical
socket, you could be dealing with a number of different problems. It’s
advised you let a Marietta electrician diagnose the issue for you.
Broken, Cracked, or Missing Insulation
As little as a few decades ago, it was considered totally safe and a fairly
common practice to install exposed copper wire in walls. Today, this is
against nearly every electrical building code on the books as it’s
a serious fire hazard.