Home Electrical System Updates

Home Electrical System Updates

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Your electrical system is like your body’s own circulatory system, with the electrical panel functioning as the “heart” of the system. The circuits that enable the electricity to flow to your outlets, lights, appliances and more are similar to your veins and arteries. The panel (heart) is responsible for providing the power, and distributing it properly. How it’s distributed depends on the number and size of your circuit breakers.

As your home ages, so does your electrical system. Most older homes were designed with 30, 50 or 60 amps using just a few circuits. A circuit consists of all outlets that are linked on one wire operated by a circuit breaker. These circuit breakers protect your home by tripping and turning off when a wire becomes overloaded and is in danger of heating up and catching fire.

However, in older electrical systems, circuit breakers may not trip due to a loose connection or other problem in the system. Even if your lights and appliances work just fine, it doesn’t mean your wiring is functioning properly, especially if you have an older home.

The National Fire Prevention Association cites faulty wiring as the leading cause of residential fires. So it only makes sense to have an inspection to see if your wiring needs updating. Plus, with the plethora of electrical devices and appliances we now use, updating wiring can greatly increase the convenience, reliability and functionality of your system.

In a nutshell, the following are the major reasons you might want to update your electrical wiring:

Improved Safety

Older homes often have outlets with only two prongs instead of three. As many new appliances have three prongs, this is obviously a major inconvenience. Even worse, two-prong outlets that don’t provide enough power can cause your home’s fuses to blow. If you have several devices plugged in at once, it increases the risk of fuses blowing. Additionally, these two-prong outlets often result in power surges. Three-prong plugs serve as connectors to ground wires in your electrical system, protecting your home from dangerous power surges.

Increased Power

Older homes tend to have only minimal outlets that don’t provide enough power for today’s devices and appliances. If you have an older home, you may be only getting 100 to 150 amps of power. Upgrading to 200 amps will allow you to run more appliances and devices without risking overload.

Here’s an example of why you need at least 200 amps: electric ovens, air conditioning systems and other appliances use a lot of energy. If you’re running several of these at once, you could be using more than 100 amps at a time. So day to day, you may be causing a great deal of wear and tear on your system without even realizing it.

Decreased Fire Risk

Electrical malfunctions cause approximately 51,000 fires every year, resulting in around 500 deaths and 1,400 injuries. Property damages from home electrical fires cost a whopping 1.3 billion dollars!
Faulty outlets and loose wiring can cause electrical sparks that can result in fires. Older knob and tube wiring can come loose, creating surges that result in wood catching fire.

Device and Appliance Protection

A power surge is one of the biggest and most damaging risks to the devices and appliances in your home. Reasons for these surges include lightning, downed power lines and power station fluctuations. Computers, televisions and gaming systems are extremely vulnerable to these power surges, and can be damaged severely.

Today’s updated electrical systems may include whole-house suppressors that protect your home from surges of 40,000 amps or more. Used in conjunction with surge protectors, these upgrades can keep your various devices and appliances safe from power surges.

Increased Convenience

The wiring in older homes was not designed for today’s modern devices and appliances. If you have an older home, you may find that you just don’t have enough outlets. Updating your electrical wiring can also include having more outlets in your home. Three-prong outlets may help prevent electrical problems, and overloading of one power source.

Adding more outlets may also improve the resale value of your home by ensuring that it’s up to code, and providing potential homebuyers with a huge reason to choose your home over another.

Get An Electrical Inspection Today!

At A#1 Air, we will provide a thorough inspection of your home’s electrical system to see if it needs updating. Our certified electricians are the best in the business. So call us now!


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