Tips on Checking the Wiring of Your Home

Your home's electrical wiring has a huge bearing on the safety of your home. You should never take chances with electricity. It is imperative you frequently check the system to ensure everything is working perfectly. Ideally, the electric wiring in your home should be modern and must conform to all the modern safety requirements. You should contact an electrician whenever you note something fishy as it could be a pointer to an underlying serious problem. Since it may not be possible to call in an electrician regularly to check the wiring of your home, the following are tips on how you can go about it.

Tips on Checking the Wiring of Your HomeThe first time you check the wiring, trace all the circuits back to the breaker box. Label each circuit breaker for the circuit it controls. Put a label on each breaker and this will make your work much easier each time you are checking the wiring.

Use a volt-ohm meter to check all the circuits to ensure that all outlets in your home have power. If this is too technical for you, hire a professional electrician to check it for you and probably show you how to handle the volt-ohm meter.

Occasionally check the temperature of circuits after an appliance has been plugged in and turned on for about half an hour. The faceplates should be cool when touched. If they happen to be hot, this is an indicator that the particular circuit has a fault that needs fixing. If you can't identify the problem, call in an electrician to check the wiring.

Inspect the orange GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) outlets. These are normally found in the kitchen, bathroom, laundry room and garage. On plugging a small lamp into the outlets and then releasing the middle button, the lamp should go out and come back again when you press the button a second time. If this is not the case, call an electrician to examine the outlet.

Shut all the appliances in your home to test the circuit breakers. Switch the breakers on and off three or four times to ensure they are working as they may seem to be okay yet they are stuck in an open position.
With the mains OFF, check all the hidden wiring. Ease the main sockets forward to check that the cables which connect them are the plastic-covered type. Ensure that the earth wires are properly covered in the yellow-and-green earth sleeving. Tighten the terminal fixing screws that may be loose.

Examine the lighting flex, appliances plugs and lamp holders for insecure flex sheathing, perished flex, loose terminals and cracked casings.

For the safety of your family and home, make sure you regularly check the wiring of your home. If you cannot do it yourself, engage a professional electrician to run a thorough check on everything. This will ensure that your house is safe to live in. it is imperative as it may prevent any possible fires that may even cause deaths in your family.