Electrical > Indoor Electrical Safety Check - 01

TIPS FOR THE SAFE INDOOR USE OF ELECTRICITY


INSPECT AND PROTECT!
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM INSPECTION


In a number of cases of electrical-related home structure fires investigated by the CPSC, homes ranging from 40 to 100 years old had not been inspected since they were built. Just like any product, our electrical sys­tems gradually deteriorate with use, abuse, age and increased demand. Systems installed in the 70s and earlier likely never anticipated the demand we place on them today. To ensure the electrical safety of your home, your elec­trical inspection should be up-to-date, defects corrected, and service upgraded to meet pres­ent and foreseeable demands.

We recommends asking the following questions to determine whether you need to have your home electrically inspected:

• Is your home 40 years old or older?
• Has your home had a major addition or renovation or major new appliance add­ed, such as a refrigerator, freezer, air con­ditioner or electric furnace, in the last 10 years?
• Are you the new owner of a previously owned home?
• Do your lights often flicker or dim mo­mentarily?
• Do your circuit breakers trip or fuses blow often?
• Are your outlet and light switch face plates hot to the touch or discolored?
• Do you hear crackling, sizzling or buzzing from your outlets?
• Do you have extension cords and mul­tiple power strips permanently in use around the house?
  If you answer yes to any one of the above questions, you should consider having a qual­ified, licensed electrical inspector, electrician or electrical contractor perform an electrical inspection of your home. Depending on the size of the home, a basic inspection could take between 30 minutes to an hour.

We rec­ommends that at a minimum the inspection should check the following items:

• Check the capacity of the electrical service to the house and provide a load test. Is the service adequate for present and foresee­able demands?
• Check the quality of the exposed wiring including the service entrance if above ground.
• Check for excessive voltage drop at recep­tacles.
• Inspect the panel box and check the con­dition of all connections.
• Check the wiring of receptacles, switches, and light fixtures, and check for proper lamp wattages.
• Verify for polarity and ground wiring at the receptacles.
• Check for required ground fault circuit in­terrupters and test each.
• Identify the type of wiring (aluminum or copper) and check for the proper size of conductors and the presence of overcur­rent protection.
• Check the type of wiring insulation (i.e., cloth or thermaplastic) and for wir­ing insulation condition and temperature rating.
• Check the age and type of various compo­nents of the electrical system.
• Check for presence and proper placement of smoke alarms and test each one.
• Check for appropriate surge suppression, and for areas of the country that experi­ence a lot of lightning, consider a surge arrester.