5 Tell-Tale Signs of Faulty Wiring in Your House

Homeowners often take the convenience of having electricity in their houses for granted. Most of them never feel an urge to get the wiring checked even once in a blue moon. The only time they call in a Kansas City electrician is when the wiring goes bad. Remodelling electrical wiring in old houses comes with a lot of challenges. In older houses, the chance of wrong wiring in need of an immediate update is significantly higher. 

How to Define Faulty Electrical Wiring?

Faulty wiring refers to the damaged wires or wires that have low/high voltage passing through them. It could be due to an electrician not paying adequate attention to the safety in order to cut corner on cost or wires that have gone bad with age. Sometimes, rodents also cause damages to wires. In any case, you should keep a careful watch on electrical wiring for faults. 

Does Faulty Wiring Add to Your Electricity Bills?

When electricity fails to pass properly through the faulty wires, they release more electricity than what is necessary to run appliances. Leakage leads to increased electricity usage and so you have to pocket out more on monthly electricity bills.

Faulty Wiring and Fire – Are They Related?

Apart from adding to your electricity bill every month, wrong wiring can also cause fire hazard. If the wiring has gone bad, it can result into electrical surges at different places not equipped with heat management abilities. It increases the chance of fire. 

How to Identify Faulty Wiring?

Electrical wiring issues are very common in Kansas. This is because, many houses in the city are old. How will you know that your house wiring is at risk? Here are 5 important signs of incorrect wiring.

Flickering Lights: Do lights in your houses buzz, dim or flicker every now and then? If the light goes dim after you plug in an electrical appliance, it’s a sure sign of electricity not flowing properly. Do light switches buzz when being turned on? It’s another red flag and you should seriously think about contacting experienced electricians in Kansas City to get the problem sorted out. 

Frequent Circuit Breakers Tripping: Circuit breakers are designed to trip. It stops the electricity flow in overloaded circuits. Sometimes, use of multiple high-energy devices causes the problem. However, if tripping happens frequently, cut down the number of electrical devices simultaneously plugged into the circuit. If the problem still persists, you should get the wiring inspected; otherwise it could result into fire hazard.

Chewed or Hot Wiring: Chewed or frayed wiring are unlikely to be the rodents’ teeth-works. The broken plastic covering exposes the wires and their electrical circuit. It could give you electric shocks or even cause a fire. It is not always possible to be careful and vigilant, but it is necessary that you hand over the work to a professional. There are so many things which the experts will help you understand and suggest. 

Hot Electric Outlets: If outlets receive too much electricity from wrong wiring, they feel hot. Keep an eye on your electric outlets. Do they feel hot or look scorched? It could be an indication of energy leakage causing wires and the outlet to get heated. In severe cases, the surge in electricity can also damage your electrical appliances and cause a fire.

Smoky or Burning Smell: If you get any smell of melting or burning plastic near an outlet, it could be due to fire damage caused by faulty wiring. Immediately turn off the switches and unplug the appliances before contacting an electrician for inspection.