Whats the BUZZ all about

What can you do to check your electrical system?

I often hear people say I won’t touch my electrical system or, I leave anything electrical alone! It is a bit scary how much energy runs through our home unseen and unheard, until we flip a switch and then magic! The lights on, the appliance starts, the entertainment begins! It courses invisibly through our homes arteries, and most have memories of being...well shocked at being shocked. And, we hear too often of a fire started by power lines, faulty wiring or appliances gone wrong.

While it is possible for an electrician or qualified inspector to see when your system is not functioning properly there are also several things you can do to reduce the likelihood of a serious issue developing in your home.

• Every month you should push the test button on each GFCI outlet or breaker and it should turn off power to the entire circuit until the reset button is pushed to reset this outlet or the breaker is turned off and then back on again. Since their introduction, there has been a drop of 83% in electrocutions and a 95% drop in electrocutions from consumer products. So these devices do work but they should be checked to ensure they are working properly.

• Notice if lights dim when a larger appliance such as an A/C unit starts up. This can mean a circuit is overloaded or sometimes indicate poor connections or poor grounding or bonding.

• Feel switches and breakers to see if any feel unusually hot. While it does not mean you need to make time to walk around and check every switch or outlet it does pay to be observant every time you turn a switch on or off, or plug or unplug a device from an outlet.

  • If your switch is too hot to touch for more than a second, it's probably too hot. Underwriter's Laboratory (U.L.) allows a maximum operation temperature of 195F for dimmer switches. But the average dimmer operates much lower, at approximately 140F

  • Standard switch should not get hotter than 95 F

  • Breakers should not exceed 140 F

• Consider if arc fault circuit breakers make sense for your house. While these are typically seen in newer homes, they may be even better for much older homes where wiring and connections can be compromised by rodents, or one too many wall hanger screws has damaged the wiring sheath. The consumer product safety commission estimates that 50% of electrical fires could be prevented by arc fault or combination type AFCI devices.

Most of all do not ignore any buzzing, burning sounds or odors that you can-not account for.

While it will be impossible to eliminate all risk of having electricity in our homes these simple steps can go a long way in reducing the chances you will have a problem at your home.