How to tell if i have bad house wiring

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Asked by
Minna

Hi, How to tell if i have bad house wiring? Please please please answer my question.

In Wiring

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Melinda

"Wiring age is really an issue..."

Well if you already are suspicious I believe it is for a reason. I have the same problem home I knew the wiring is bad the moment my bulbs got burnt like 2-3 of them a week. Wiring age is really an issue, wires older than 10 years may cause a lot of problems to any electric utilities you are using at home. Get an electrician to take a look at it, it will spare you a lot of money. Leo Collins

This answer closely relates to:

House wiring age

Q. Could bad wiring in my house cause my fan to break?
could bad wiring in my house cause my fan to break.. i had 3 fans that broke in 3 days... and will it break my laptop? and i was curious if i plug my aplliances into a surge protector would it protect it from breaking.... all the fans just stopped...

"It is not typical for the wiring to cause this though..."

What did the Fan do when it broke? Did it burn up, slow down or just stop? If you have Voltage in your house that is excessively Low OR High you can damage your Laptop. It is not typical for the wiring to cause this though. You may have a problem with the transformer that supplies the power to Your home. Which would be something for the Power Company to take care of. I am talking about power in the US. If you are outside the US, I am not sure. Is there anything else in the house that is having power problems? As for the Surge Protector, they will work for surges but NOT Under-power problems.

Q. In my final question do circuit breakers detect bad wiring in the house to prevent fires?
lately i haven't had an outlet overloaded but the last time it was overloaded was in july of 2006 when i installed my ac but since then it hasn't turn off the electricity.

"Circuit breakers don't detect bad wiring..."

Circuit breakers don't detect bad wiring, the detect when you are trying to pull too much electricity through one wire. Copper wires are excelent conductors, but they're not perfect. A small amount of resistance generates a small amount of heat, and the more electricity, the more heat. A circuit breaker detects when the amount of electricity running through the wires may be high enough to make the wires hot, and shuts it down for safety. So if your circuits blow, its just because you're trying to pull too much electricity, not because your wiring is bad.

Q. Is having lots of aluminum wiring in a 1965 house bad?
i have more than a dozen aluminum wires feeding into my circuit box. what are the dangers and remedies?

"The bad thing about aluminum wiring is that it expands and shrinks..."

From what I understand, the bad thing about aluminum wiring is that it expands and shrinks where as copper won't. With that said, if your aluminum is attatched to anything other than aluminum, like copper, the aluminum wire has a chance to shrink and cause the aluminum/copper connection to become loose. This can result in arching or sparks. This is where a lot of electrical wall fires start. We are having an electritian coming out this week to check all of our outlets and connections as our house is 1/2 aluminum 1/2 copper.

Q. I had a house fire due to bad wiring. i was wondering what or how i would, or even if i can sue my landlord.?
the house fire started, where the a.c was plugged in. i had nothing else plugged into this plug in, also the wiring was not updated throughout the house. if anyone has any advice or maybe similar incedents i would greatly like to hear from you. thank you for looking..

"Bad wiring has to be proved..."

bad wiring has to be proved, updating is not an issue as you would have to update every five years as the codes change, if the fire Marshall stated that it was an electrical fire that is it, unless there was a clear sign of code violation it was just an overloaded circuit that caused the fire. Be happy if the LL doesn't sue you

Q. How do you know if you have bad wiring in house?
sometimes lites dim quickly and come back on again when microwave is in use etc

Some microwaves are power hogs. If you have many items pulling power from one line on the breaker, spred them out. Remember: An electric appliance pulls more power in startup, then goes back down to operational current.

Q. How can i determine that theres bad wiring in the house and if so will the circuit breaker shut off that line.

"Be to check all outlets,switches,junction boxes and wiring at the the breaker or fuses..."

A fuse or breaker tripps because it is the weakest link. A defective wire such as bad electrical connection will burn at that point and not trip the breaker. The only real test would be to check all outlets,switches,junction boxes and wiring at the the breaker or fuses . Plan on spending some bucks. If it gives you peace of mind,go for it.

Q. Is premium car stereo wire bad inside house walls? what happens when you don't use wall rated?
what happens when you use premium stereo wire instead of wall rated? isn't the car stereo and monster brand ok? is it dangerous or bad sounding

"Is going to be just fine inside your walls..."

General auto grade speaker wire, is going to be just fine inside your walls. The only concern you will have is if you have rodents then the "home grade" wire would be better. Auto wire is designed to repell moisture, and vibration.... if you got a surplus of one kind use it, the only thing that will ever cause any issues is if you run your audio wire near higher amp/voltage wires. but nothing to be concerned about.

Q. What are signs of having bad electrical wiring?
how can you know if the wiring in your house is bad? our lights flicker badly when air comes on, and sometimes for no reason at all, we got through a crazy amount of light bulbs, and we've got two lights that have just stopped working all together, the front porch light and the laundry room light, the laundry room light, the light went out with a pop, and now the thing only turns on sometimes. i'm renting, and the management company doesn't really like to fix anything, so are these seemingly to them minor problems worth a fight to fix?

You have described an acutely dangerous situation - do NOT pass go, do NOT collect $200 - get hold of the management company and state clearly that the condition puts you and your family in danger of your lives from electrocution or fire. They are certainly worth a major fight to fix. It is one thing if you have a 'hot' go out killing an outlet or two. But entirely elsewise if a 'neutral' goes out leaving potentially very dangerous conditions or the possibility of sending 220V across some of your appliances or light-bulbs (blowing them out in short-order during the process). Repeat: This situation is acutely dangerous to you and yours. Get them to fix it *properly* - up to and including calling the local code official if they are non-responsive. It may be as simple as tightening a few connections in the panel or in various splice-boxes here and there. But whatever it is it *MUST* be fixed forthwith.

Q. Please help, my house caught fire from faulty wiring and is ablaze?
should i call goverment firefighters? or maybe i should call the electrician who installed bad wiring in my house to fight fire? after all it was his fault.

Was your electrician an illegal alien?

Q. We just found out that the wiring is bad in the house we are renting i was woundering what our options ?
our landlord is being kinda rude because half of the house the power dont work what can we do if he wont fix it or trys to evict us or if the house got condemed isnt he suppose to pay for a hotel and all the deposits when we find a place or if he just evictes us cant we take him to court

"Advise you about what will cause a house to be condemned &..."

The local building inspector can advise you about what will cause a house to be condemned & ; a lawyer can advise you about the legal remedies available to you. You can also, if you believe you have a case, file a complaint against your landlord in small claims court. Good luck...

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