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Every homeowner at one point or another will require electrical repairs. But, these can get expensive when you have to call in a trained and certified electrician to help.
We’ll discuss the top 5 common electrical repairs, why they happen and how you can fix them. However, it’s imperative that you follow all local, state and federal regulations so you don’t land yourself in trouble. Regardless, most of these are simple enough to fix without requiring the help of a professional.
Before You Begin
Before beginning to fix electrical repairs yourself, you should understand a few things about electricity. First and foremost, always make sure you wear appropriate equipment when handling live electricity. The risk of getting severely zapped is too high to try doing it with bare hands.
The next is to educate yourself on all applicable laws and regulations regarding what a residential electrical repair might consider. In some places, even fixing an outlet for a friend can land you in a legal battle.
When you want help, you can contact your local electric worker’s union for tips and advice. If at any point you are in doubt about your ability to fix a problem, call your electric company or a professional electrician.
The 5 Most Common Electrical Repairs
1. Panels
Since people are switching their homes to be smart-capable, many homeowners look to change out the old electric panels. Besides, there are estimates that place the average homeowner at 50 devices plugged in at one time. So, changing and/or repairing a panel is going to be essential at some point.
If you end up replacing this yourself, you will have to shut down your electrical system for the duration of the repair. Also, you have to ensure you size the panel to the appropriate dimensions of the one installed. Otherwise, you could create issues of exposed random live wires.
2. Defunct Outlets
When you live in an old house, outlets going dead and defunct are common repair issues. This could come from a tripped fuse, breaker, GFI, or from faulty wiring. For these, you really should contact a skilled technician. They will have the equipment and knowledge to fix it properly.
3. Lights Flicker
It’s not uncommon for lights to flicker on and off, even in brand-new homes. There are many reasons this can happen. The light bulb could be going dead, there’s a short in the connection or it could be due to bad weather. If your breaker box is going, there could be snaps and sparks coming from it, which results in lights flickering.
You can attempt to do an initial evaluation of the situation by changing the light bulb, checking the weather and inspecting the breaker box. If you do these and the lights still flicker, then you should call a professional electrician to see if there’s a short in the connection or to repair the breaker box.
4. General Wiring
Another common electrical repair is general wiring problems. There’s always the likelihood that the wiring of your home is incorrect. Indicators for this are buzzing power sounds, heat radiation from outlets or sparking from outlets. General wiring issues require that you call a professional immediately.
5. Circuit or Breaker Problems
Of all the common electrical repairs mentioned so far, circuit or breaker problems are something most homeowners can handle on their own. Frequent problems with overloaded circuits and tripped breakers mean you must distribute your use of devices and appliances more evenly.
If this is a common problem, even with dispersing electronics in other outlets, calling an electrician is the only solution.
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