Our modern life has us relying on electricity more than ever, and that makes having an electrical shortage worrying. Electrical shorts can happen frequently and can have lasting consequences if they’re not immediately addressed. From damaging electronics to life-threatening electrical fires, these faults in your electrical need the attention of a professional.
It pays to know how to identify signs of an electrical short, and what to do to protect your home until you call an electrician.
Understanding What Shorts Are and How They Happen
Electrical wires are used to transfer electrical power throughout our homes to power appliances, lights, personal electronics, and more. These wires are, in general, lengths of copper wire covered with an insulating sheath. Like water, electricity likes to take the path of least resistance, which is why these coatings are essential.
If the insulation on your wires becomes compromised, it creates an opportunity for an electrical shortage. This happens when a lower-resistance connection is available somewhere along the length of wire, causing the electricity to change course. This connection can be a piece of metal, another wire, or even pests, animals, or you.
Damage to the insulating layer is most often due to pests such as squirrels or mice. It’s also possible for them to become damaged accidentally, such as getting pierced by nails or screws. In some cases wires may be damaged by simple age and wear and tear. Regardless of how this happened, when a short circuit occurs it can be seriously dangerous to your home.
How To Find The Source Of Your Electrical Shortage
There are a few ways to isolate the cause of your short, or at least where they’re happening. This will help you take steps to prevent dangerous situations until you can have an expert out to look at it. When you have an electrical short, follow these steps:
Isolate The Location: Often when a short happens, it will only impact one area of your home. You’ll notice this because the power will shut off in one area, and the associated breaker will turn off in your electrical box.
Unplug All Appliances: Once you’ve found out where the short is happening, unplug everything in that area before turning the breaker back on. If the breaker pops immediately, the problem isn’t in your appliances, but in the wiring in your home.
Plug In Appliances One By One: If the breaker doesn’t pop, start plugging in your appliances one by one. If the breaker pops immediately after plugging one in, or without plugging in another one, the last appliance plugged in may be the problem.
Consider What Was Happening: Sometimes the problem isn’t short, it’s too much power being pulled. This can sometimes happen if you’re operating a lot of appliances simultaneously. For instance, it’s common to pop a breaker in older homes when running a microwave and a coffee pot simultaneously.
Once you’ve followed these steps you’ll probably have isolated the problem to a single area of your home or an appliance with a short. At this stage, it’s time to call in the professionals to see the situation resolved. If you have any uncertainty about locating the electrical short safely, it’s always smart to start by giving the experts a call.
An electrical contracting firm such as Bratcher Electric in Wayne is a dependable choice. We have been providing expert electrical services to homes and businesses in Michigan for more than 6o years. We address everything form home rewiring and electrical service upgrades to Stand-By generator installation, code upgrades and more.
Don’t Take Risks with Electrical Shortages
Electrical shortages may not be uncommon, but they can be a serious risk to your home and family. Fixing them yourself is possible, but without proper training in electrical safety, it’s easy to make a life-threatening mistake. Don’t take the risk when it comes to your home’s electricity, give us a call and we’ll have a team out to get your electrical short resolved quickly and safely!