Watch Out for These Signs That Your Home’s Wiring Is Unsafe
A house is not just four walls and a roof – it is a complex system of infrastructure, most of which is hidden (behind these walls, floors and ceilings) for aesthetic and security reasons. Most of us don’t dig into our home’s wiring other than (perhaps) tagging a light switch or making sure all the outlets work, but we really should. The good news is that bad wiring in your home—whether it’s a poorly done DIY repair or just old, rusty wires—often provides plenty of warning that you’re about to run into serious problems. Here are the signs that the electrical wiring in your home is faulty.
flickering lights
One of the most obvious signs that something is wrong with your wiring is flickering light bulbs. If the lights in your home are flickering or dimming randomly, this is a sign of a weak connection. If it’s just one light, it could be a local problem, but if you’re experiencing light flickering so often that you suspect ghosts, it’s a sign that you should call an electrician immediately.
Hot sockets and wall panels
Electricity is very good at heating things – that’s how we get toasters and heaters. But the wiring in your wall should never be hot to the touch. Your outlets or the wall panels above them can sometimes get a little warm, but if touching them feels like touching a hot pan on the stove, that’s a problem. If you have an appliance plugged into this outlet, unplug it and see if the heat is escaping – if so, you may have simply overloaded the circuit. If the heat persists, consider flipping the breaker in that particular area and call an electrician.
Burning smell or buzzing
This may seem obvious, but it’s surprising how often people smell burning in their home and simply assume it’s coming from outside. If you smell burning with no obvious source, check your wall outlets and light switches to make sure the smell isn’t getting worse – this could be a sign that your wiring is dangerously overheated.
Similarly, if you notice sockets or switches making a buzzing noise, you should get them repaired right away—properly connected electricity shouldn’t make any noise. And it may seem very, very obvious, but if you ever see smoke coming out of a wall outlet or light switch, turn on the switches and leave the house until you get a licensed technician to inspect your wiring.
Strikes or sparks
A slight shock of static electricity, especially in winter, is not uncommon when turning on devices or appliances. But if you get hit hard enough to hurt, it’s much, much more dangerous – your electrical system is probably not properly grounded, meaning that excess surges won’t be safely carried away from you, but instead can flow directly. into you, or just overload the wiring and catch fire. And if you ever see sparks when plugging anything into a wall or turning on an appliance, or if you notice burning around an outlet or switch, immediately unplug everything from that outlet, turn on the switch in that part of the house and get professional help. there fast.
Free exits
If one of your wall sockets or switches has become weak enough to wobble when you use it, it should be inspected and repaired immediately. Loose outlets and switches may simply be the result of time and constant use, but all of that movement can also loosen the connections within them, which can lead to more serious problems. This is usually a simple and easy repair – just make sure you turn off the power at that location before doing anything.
Rodent droppings
Yes, signs of the presence of mice or rats are always a cause for concern, but when you see their droppings near the wiring, take immediate action. Rodents love to gnaw on insulation around wires. This usually results in their spectacular death, but it can also cause damage to wiring and even electrical fires. If you know there are some critters roaming the house, inspect the electrical wiring in your home where you can, looking for any signs of gnawed insulation.
frequent shutdowns
Even if you know absolutely nothing about electricity and wiring, you know that somewhere in the house there is a big box with many switches that turn electricity on and off in different parts of your house. These switches protect your home from overloads due to power surges – when your wiring is shorted or overloaded, the switch “triggers” and cuts off the power. You then manually reset it and hopefully everything is back to normal.
However, if your switches are tripping regularly, this indicates that you have a more serious problem. Even if resetting them seems to work fine and you have no other signs of a problem, tripping the breaker more than once in recent memory is a hint that you need to call an electrician immediately because you either have a short circuit somewhere between the automatic switch and wall socket or switch, or any other potentially hazardous situation.