Most people do not see the need to upgrade their home’s electrical system when everything seems in perfect condition. It is essential to note that a poor electrical system can function as if it is in good shape. However, the system will break down when you do not even expect it. It is hazardous to have a substandard electrical system, warns RentSmartUSA.com, because it can lead to terrible incidents such as electrocutions, house fires, or even death.
Since the electrical system is hidden behind the walls and ceiling, most people tend to forget it until there is a sudden breakdown. It will be best not to wait for your electrical system to fail before updating it. Several undesirable things may occur before the system fails.
7 reasons you need to upgrade your home’s electrical system
1) Reduce electrical bills
An outdated electrical system may manifest as high energy bills and lower energy efficiency. That happens because old electrical wires have poor insulation and lose electricity through heat. As a result, the system will use up more energy. Upgrading your electrical system will help you lower your energy bills.
2) Enhance the home’s safety
Most of the house fires that happen every year in the United States are due to electrical faults that an update can prevent. Also, electrocutions are more common in homes with old electrical systems. That is because the cables undergo wear and tear. As a result, they lose their insulating abilities. However, you can prevent these hazards by updating your home’s electrical system.
3) Increase the lifespan of your electrical appliances
Outdated electrical cables fail to deliver the appropriate power supply to appliances. That is because they have poor insulation and lose energy to the surroundings. Devices receiving energy from such electrical systems will experience stress and perform below optimal levels. As a result, their lifespan will decrease. It would be best to upgrade your electrical system to maintain your appliances’ lifespan.
4) Take advantage of home renovation
We advise homeowners to perform an electrical upgrade during home renovation for several reasons. It is easier to perform updates during this time because the walls are torn down. The electrical upgrade will not be expensive during this time because the electrician is not the one taking the walls apart. Also, adding an extra room or footage will require electrification. All these make it beneficial to perform an electrical system update during renovation.
5) Bring the home’s electrical system up to code
Building codes undergo regular updates. With the implementation of new safety standards, building codes may vary in an area over time. Your home may need an electrical upgrade to bring it up to code with the current building regulations. Although these updates do not happen every year, significant changes to building codes will occur once every ten years.
Updating your electrical system to the current building code will prevent you from code violations if you are a landlord. It is also essential to upgrade the electrical system if you want to sell the property soon. An infringement of the building code can obstruct the sale process.
6) Add new outlets for convenience
Your home’s electrical layout affects how you arrange the furniture and electronic devices. Homes with fewer electrical outlets limit how you can organize them. You may want to put your television on a wall, but there is no outlet to supply it.
Also, the designer may have implemented a specific layout you do not like. You can solve this issue by adding new outlets. Doing so will make it more convenient to rearrange your interior according to your taste. It is advisable to upgrade your electrical system to add circuits and outlets for convenience.
7) Meet the demands of new appliances
Older homes built before the 2000s did not have consideration for modern needs. With the sharp increase in electronic devices in homes, the power demand is also rising. According to data by the US Energy Information Administration, an average household consumes 10,399 kilowatt-hours (kWh) annually or 867kWh monthly.
Having an old electrical system in your home will not meet this demand. Instead, the system will experience stress or will overload. This will cause electrical fires or circuit breakers to trip off frequently. It is advisable to upgrade your home’s electrical system to avoid this overload.
How to upgrade your home’s electrical system
If you are considering an electrical system upgrade, here are things to do.
Upgrade the electrical pane
Since the power requirements for modern homes are surging, you need to bring more power from the utility into your house. You can achieve this by replacing old or obsolete electrical panels, circuit breakers, and meters.
Install additional circuits
Extra circuits will help distribute more power to your appliances.
Replace old electrical fixtures
You will also need to replace your old electrical receptacles, wires, and outlets.
The bottom line
Unless you are an electrician, it is not advisable to tamper with your home’s electrical system. Electrical upgrades are not DIY projects. We recommend hiring experts who will access the property and make professional inputs.
It becomes very important to ask a few questions whenever hiring an electrician for any electrical work after all it’s a matter of safety to find the right electrician or electrical contractor. Electrical problems such high electricity bill, circuit overload, tripping, lights flickering, electrical shocks and fires etc. can happen anytime.
Ask the following questions to avoid inferior electrical work:
For fixing the electrical problems or issues, we hire an electrician and its good. But before going further, do ask them some questions first so that you can get a genuine and licensed electrician with the right experienced for electrical works.
Are you a licensed electrician?
In true sense, a licensed electrician has the right to work in their field while certified one recognizes their experience levels. After knowing them, you will easily understand what is right because there are many electricians who call themselves a licensed electrician but they are not actually. So, always ask as much as possible questions to get the job done in the right way.
Are you covered by insurance?
The works your hired electrician will do could damages your residential, commercial and industrial properties e.g. houses, buildings, apartments, plants or factories etc. if things go wrong. If the hired electrician and electrical contractors are not insured, it can cost you too much.
An insured electrician always take care of these things and are ready to offer quality electrical services with the updated documentation (license, a legal agreement and covered insurance). Ask this question whenever planning to hire an electrician or electrical contractors for electrical works.
Do you offer a warranty?
Always ask for the warranty and look for whether the electrical parts or its services are under the warranty and how long it is effective. Only certified and licensed electrician can offer such a warranty.
Who will do the electrical work?
Ask electrician frequently, who will do the electrical work? After getting the answer to this question you will be able to decide who is going to do the job if he gets hired. It could be the owner, employee or sub-contractor but everything has its own limitations and preferences.
How many years of experience do you have as an electrician?
Experience is as important as having a license because it may be that you are very educated, but without any experience, they are all useless and not of any use. What happens actually? An electrician who has done proper education in the electrical field know the code but he has no idea and doesn’t know completely how to implement them whenever it needs due to the lack of experience. Never forget to ask this question to the electrician or electrical contractors before their hiring.
Only an experienced and certified electrician can understand the importance of quality electrical services and keep the customer away from unexpected electrical expenses and its repairs.
Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay as seen at https://pixabay.com/photos/let-it-snow-winter-christmas-design-1918800/
Winter is the coldest season of the year as well know this where days become shorter and nights become longer. Winter days also consider a holiday and festive season where people use to celebrate Christmas and New Year eve party and also do some bit amount of lighting decoration in their houses or public places that can lead to the electrical problems or issues.
Winter days also consider a holiday and festive season where people use to celebrate Christmas and New Year eve party and also do some bit amount of lighting decoration in their houses or public places. During winter days, most people use electrical heating systems e.g. electric heater, geyser, appliances and clothes so that the body can get enough heat, in our site. But it can harm and lead to serious electrical problems.
Let’s talk about some more electrical problems and its solutions to learn what precaution we should take in winter days for getting safe and secure electricity at residential, commercial and industrial places:
Electrical Circuit Or Outlet
In the winter season, the electrical circuit can be overloaded frequently, for which you will have to repair it, which will be chargeable. In winter, people use it more because of the cold. As a result, electrical outlet becomes overload and the chances of fire increase.
Circuit overload is not good especially for a house where a family lives together and forever. An overloaded circuit can get fire anytime and that’s not good. Nobody wants this to happen even when there is a celebration all around and people are enjoying the winter, a holiday season.
We should pay attention to the electrical circuit so that there is no electrical problem. If this happens, contact the electrician near to you immediately.
Electrical Wires
Electric wires are made up of metals and plastics which get damaged due to low temperature in cold winter. Metals become hard but liable to break easily and for electric wires, it could be an electric problem because hard electric wires remain unchanged and unable to bend excessively.
Plastic behaves in the same way as metals do in the cold temperature especially in the winter season.
Make sure that electric wires are made from the best quality metals and plastics that can withstand cold temperature in winter when buying or repairing the electrical wires. Otherwise, it can be dangerous, for which you may have to bear heavy losses.
Not sure and no idea about this, take help from certified and licensed electrician near to you.
Electrical Heating
Electrical heating, a process where electrical energy gets converted into heat energy and we use this electrical product as an electric heater, an electrical heating device that converts an electric current into heat.
We use electric heaters for space heating at one place in our houses or else for heating water, cooking etc. in winter.
Tips:
Don’t forget to unplug the space heater when it is not in use even at night and when you leave the space.
Connect space heaters directly into a wall outlet; avoid using extension cords or boards etc.
Make sure electric space, liquid and the industrial heater have an automatic shut off feature if they fall over.
Replace the electric heater if you think it’s gone bad.
Electric heaters can get the electric fire on a large scale because these are rarely energy efficient. Henced it must be properly equipped for the winter season.
Power Outage
On cold days people often use electric appliances to keep their homes and themselves warm, which consumes a lot of electricity Which causes a sudden power cut.
In the winter season, the power outage may impact particular houses, buildings, society and economy too. Nobody wants this to happen but it happens if we do not pay attention to the power outage.
Tips:
Freezer and refrigerator need to be closed most of the time whenever possible it is in cold weather.
Keep power generators outdoors and away from windows and living places of a particular house or building.
Unplugged electrical appliances, heaters and electronic devices to avoid electrical surges.
In winter days, check the electrical breakers and the power lines of a house. If it’s gone bad, stay away and contact 24-hour emergency electrician near to your immediately.
Follow the above basic tips to get protected from the sudden power cut or outage in winter due to cold weather and low temperature that changes frequently.
Flickering (Blinking) Lights
You must have noticed flickering lights in winter, a cold-weather season when you turn on electric lights, it takes time to light up well. Flickering happens when the electric current goes up and down. Or else it is caused by loose wire and holder.
So, the electrical lighting and its wire connection should be in the recommended way so that there is no electrical problem otherwise it can get the electrical fire, short circuit or something else. What we need to do is, nothing, just pay attention and when found flickering of lights or bulb, contact the nearest electrician in your area and tell them about this electrical problem and take help.
Outdoor Lighting
For electrical problem whether it’s a industrial, commercial or residential electrical problems or issues in Atlanta during the winter days, Get in touch with Ozburn Electrical Contractors and its Electricians for electrical services e.g. electrical installation, repair, inspection and maintenance services in Atlanta, Georgia (GA) the United States and its nearby surroundings.
