In a study by the Electrical Safety Foundation, it’s reported that about 51,000 fires are caused by faulty wiring every year. As wires get older, they fray and become more likely to suffer faults that can cause severe damage. In fact, it’s likely that faulty wires can cause major fires. The best way to avoid this issue is by rewiring your Iowa home. Rewiring replaces all of the old, at-risk wires with fresh wiring. The big question, however, is when you should call for a rewiring. Integra Electrical can tell you when you should be calling us to protect your home.
Here are seven signs that your Iowa home should get rewiring:
Persistent burning smells
If you’re smelling a constant burning and can’t find a reason for it, you might want to check your wires. Burning smells are a common sign of wiring in dire need of replacement. If you smell the burning, turn off the power at the circuit and call us immediately. Failure to do so can result in an electrical fire.
Aluminum wiring
About two million homes between 1965 and 1973 used aluminum for their electrical wiring instead of the standard copper. This short usage window is due to aluminum being a bad material for electrical wiring. Aluminum wiring is known to be more prone to failure and damage than copper wiring, all issues that can cause electrical fires. If you live in an older home, check your wires to see if they’re aluminum. You can tell if you have aluminum wires because they have ‘AL’ written on the wire jacket.
Frequent circuit breaker trips
Circuit breakers and fuses both protect your home from power surges. When they detect more energy than your system can handle, they trip or burn out to protect your system. This helps prevent electrical fires and damage to your electronics. If your system is frequently tripping the circuit breaker, then your wiring might be too worn to handle the load. Of course, there are other reasons your circuit breaker is tripping too much. Maybe an appliance is faulty or you’ve added something new that adds too much to the system. You can figure out what the problem is by using a circuit breaker tester.
Electrical shocks from your cords
Sometimes you may get an electrical shock when plugging or unplugging an appliance from an outlet. When that happens, you should call us immediately. That’s a sign of faulty wiring and the shocks they give can be very dangerous to you and your family.
Lighting issues
Flickering lights are a common sign of faulty wiring. Oftentimes you’ll only see one or a few lights flickering. In those cases, you likely just have a bulb that’s bad or needs tightening. However, if every light is flickering, then your wiring is the problem. Another problem wiring can cause with your lighting is bulbs burning in their socket despite being the right model. This is usually when the fixture can’t handle the bulb’s wattage due to wire wear. Like the flickering lights, this problem can be solved by rewiring your home.
Charred and discolored outlets and switches
Switches and outlets that look like they’ve been burnt are a bad sign. Loose connections behind your outlets and switches can arc and spark. These can cause tiny fires or electrical burns that can show up on the outlet and switch covers. However, sometimes the problem can be deeper in the walls, preventing you from seeing the burn marks the sparks make.
Two-prong outlets
In more modern buildings, you’ll likely notice that outlets and the electronics they use have three prongs. The third prong that forms the “mouth” of the outlet has a grounding wire. When the load gets too much for the first two prongs, the grounding wire takes the load and grounds it safely into the earth. Older homes often have outlets with only two prongs. Not only is this dangerous, but more modern electronics may not be able to plug into them.
Why choose Integra for their rewiring services?
Our master electricians have been providing home rewiring services in Iowa and the Indianola community for over 10 years. Our superhero team of master electricians is committed to top-quality residential rewiring service. We cover the breadth of home rewiring projects, from adding switches and outlets to surge protection and power-enhancing. Call Integra today to get your wiring updated!