7 Signs of an Outdated Electric Wiring in Your Home That You Must Know
RH Business Marketing Solutions
Overview
Your electric wiring also ages with your house. But outdated wiring is an electrical hazard you must eliminate as soon as possible. Do you know how to determine the electric materials and wiring in your home are outdated and worn out?
This post educates you about the 7 most common signs of outdated electric wiring posing a threat to your home and family. Keep reading!
7 Tale-a-tell Signs of Outdated Electric Wiring in Your Home
Look out for these 7 signs indicating old and outdated wiring in your home, which needs replacement at the earliest!
1. Damaged Wiring
Do you spot frayed or chewed electrical wiring in your home? These wires will look like their ends are damaged. They are exposed through insulation. There can be many reasons for damaged wirings, such as heat, ageing, or corrosion. It can be dangerous to overlook this outdated wiring in your home. And they are also not able to perform efficiently.
2. Getting Shocks from Switches & Outlets
When the switches and outlets are outdated, they give your shocks more often. But shocks can also signify a wiring fault or fault in a particular electric device. You can run a check yourself to determine the reason for these, or you can also call an electrician for a detailed investigation. However, calling an expert is always recommended to find the fault.
3. Hot Outlets/Wires With Burning Smell
All the electric materials within your reach, like wires, outlets, and switches, must be cool to touch. If they are hot and a burning smell comes out of them, it’s a sure sign of outdated or faulty wiring and ultimately an electric hazard. Even if they are not currently hot, but there are warm spots and scorching marks, you would want to get them tested.
4. Visibly Aged Electric Wiring
This is one of the strongest indications of old and unsafe wiring. If your home was built in the era of the 60s and 70s, its wiring must be made of aluminum. It’s time to replace this wiring as aluminum wiring is not suitable for handling modern electrical devices' load. The modern copper wiring is more heat-resistant, making it safer and better.
5. Regular Tripping of Breakers & Fuses
The fuse and breakers trip to prevent your home and electrical material from any electric outage or surge. These surges are rare and don’t happen often. However, if your breaker and fuse go off quite regularly, they can be outdated or out of order. It can also be a sign of a faulty device if only a particular breaker is tripping. Call a licensed electrician to check.
6. Outlets and Switches Looking Discolored & Blackened
If your outlets are discolored and jarred, they are possibly outdated. And there are high chances that the wiring is outdated too. This is because the outlets are generally installed with the main wiring of the house. Another sure sign of trouble is the smoke coming out of switches and outlets. You shouldn’t delay in calling a professional.
7. Lights Flickering & Getting Dim
Hollywood may tell you something else. But the lights in your home flicker and get dim because of an electrical fault. These electrical faults can be in a particular device. You will know if switching on that device triggers the flickering of lights in your house. But if this happens randomly, the outdated electric wiring or breaker can be the reason.
Better Be Safe!
What you can do yourself is to check these 7 signs of trouble. But once you spot outdated wiring & electric material, or any other electric hazard, it's best to contact a professional electrician rather than addressing the issue yourself. This is unless you have an advanced level of electrical knowledge.
You can do some basic work with limited knowledge, such as replacing old outlets with GFCI and labelling circuit breakers.
Author Bio: Jeson Pitt works with the marketing department of D&F Liquidators and regularly writes to share his knowledge while enlightening people about electrical products and solving their electrical dilemmas. He’s got the industry insights that you can count on along with years of experience in the field.