What to look for in bad electrical wiring

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Wm

What to look for in bad electrical wiring? It would be so helpful to get an answer. How might I best go forward?

In Wiring

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Lussay

"If you have any problems with your electrical wires..."

If you have any problems with your electrical wires, i would recommend you to call a specialist. An electrician can check your entire wire system in 1-2 days (depending on how big it is). They have proper tools and enough electrical knowledge to solve your problems. It is recommended to use an electrician instead of trying to fix/check your electrical system all by yourself. /lussay

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. Rental home: if my computer gets fried because of bad electrical wiring inside?
i rent a home and the power started having really bad surges last night. i called my power company and he says their end is fine. the electrician inside says there is an issue with the wiring of some sort. is the landlord responsible for thing that got fried like my cable box and my computer? ok after a few answers i decided to add a bit more. i do pay my rent religiously ahead of time. i do not have renters insurance but because the problem is in his wiring, which he is responsible for, and my pc got fried due to his faulty wiring. would i be responsible for the loss of items or him? he is a good guy and had an electrician here at 8am and is still here.

"He may not know that the house wiring is dangerous..."

get a surge suppressor, since a surge suppressor is not perfect, also get a UPS. That will condition the line. Next notify the landlord, he may not know that the house wiring is dangerous. If you are having problems and it is not the power company, it is a dangerous situation.

Q. How to test if electrical wiring is bad, switch is bad, or light fixture is bad?
i have a 4-bulb light fixture in the bathroom that stopped working today. the other set of lights and fan still work. things i have tried so far: 1. i tried replacing the bulbs and it still does not work. 2. i have reset the gfci switch. 3. i have reset the bathroom circuit breaker as well. i opened up the light switch (the panel has two switches for two sets of lights) and can't tell if anything is wrong. i also looked at the light fixture (it's open from above) and noticed that it has two wires going in from the wall, a brown and black wire. i also wanted to test that line if possible. if the line is working, then i guess the light fixture is bad. but how do i test the line?

The best way to test is with a meter. Lacking that you can take the wires off the switch and short them together to see if the light turns on (this is what the switch does when you turn it on. There is probably a bare ground wire attached to the switch, don't short it to either of the other two wires on the switch. You can buy a meter at hardware stores for very little money to test the lines though and I would suggest that.

Q. I have a bad electrical outlet and am wondering what is wrong?
only one side works. the white common wire reads 19 v, and the other black wire reads 119 v. does that necessarily mean a bad common/main wire? i hope i asked that properly. thanks in advance!

The white wire is neutral. there shouldn't be any current on that one.

Q. What material can substitute the earth to create a portable electrical ground for a guitar amplifier?
i have a guitar amplifier which makes unwanted noise when i connect my guitar to it. it happens because the amp is not connected to ground because my house's electrical wiring is bad. i manually connected the the gorund line to the earth and the sound went away. what i want to know is, can i connect the ground line to another source with high capacitance (such as the earth) and let it be small and portable at the same time?

Do you have copper old medal water pipes that go into the earth where you have seen this. If so you can use that as a ground while at home but when you leave your house seek compliance grounded wired sites. There is no fake ground substitute that I know of. It sounds like you know your home is a danger if an appliance gets grounded and you or someone comes in contact with it.

Q. Vw bad electrical?
do all vw cars have faulty electrical? my sister had a 1997 jetta with bad wiring and everything was flakey. my brother has a 1992 corrado with major electrical issues also. is this normal with these cars? i know they are getting older but none of my nissan's do this.

"Vw's do have their share of electrical problems however i do not see..."

VW's do have their share of electrical problems however I do not see more than other European cars. If you want electrical problems get a car with electrics from "The Prince of Darkness" ie Joseph Lucas.

Q. Need help bad, electrical problem, how do i get a diagram of the wiring of my car? ???
i have a 1993 dodge ram van b250 for 3 years i have not had heat. a/c is fine. the first year had very little heat, 2nd year even less heat, 3rd year no heat, totally gone. the blower is fine, not real strong but fine. here's the problem. my back street mechanic checked my fuses under my inside dash to see if a fuse was blown to my heater. now one of my wires under my hood was sparking and it blew out my car alarm. also, my car had to be jumped every morning because the battery went dead due to this. the wire that was sparking was unplugged but now the blower doesnt work. i strongly believe that the wire unplugged goes to the blower, but not sure. it isnt the alarm wire, definately. this wire is along the back wall of the engine with all the other wires. its pink. and connects to the battery. how do i get a diagram of the wiring of my car? how do i get it to stop sparking ?? i have a new heater core. antifreeze over flow and in radiator is fine. i also had it flushed 2 times. new heater control valve new thermo and gasket new thermostat housing new water pump please tell me the experience you have with cars

"First a wiring diagram may not completely help if the alarm is aftermarket..."

First a wiring diagram may not completely help if the alarm is aftermarket. Go to the library and get the Chilton manual for 1993 Dodge Pickups. The Wiring diagram should be there. I suspect your original problem was one of 2 things The heater hose is collapsing or is not connected {one can bypass the heater core by loop routing the heater hose. The Heater core could also be bad or clogged. The Second possible item is that your switch may be bad, There is a third option but less likely, there may be a vacuum issue preventing the damper from closing {on the outside vent" the heater core may be heating up, but cold air coming in is overwhelming any affects. My first guess is the heater hose. Best advice dump the shade tree and take it to an ASE certified shop!

Q. Does anyone know anything about electrical and wiring?
everytime we leave the bedroom light on for too long ( say 30 minutes or more ), i open the door to the faint smell of something that resembles burning rubber and it gives me a headache. is my wiring burning, the ceiling fan going bad or what?

You may have too large (wattage) of a bulb that is causing an overheating problem. It could be that the fixture is old and needs to be relaced. The most likely problem is a loose connection of one of the wires at the light. This causes a high-resistance at that spot and generates a lot of heat (like the wires inside your toaster). You should take the light fixture down and look at the wires to see if there is any melting or discoloration of the insulation. If the insulation is stiff or brittle, the light and/or wires needed to be replaced. This situation is a potential fire hazard and should be dealt with right away. Get help if needed and do not use the light it until you have resolved the problem. Good luck!!

Q. Bad electrical outlet?
i have had an outlet inside my den that hasn't worked for some time now. it is a 15a 125v so i went to the store to purchase another outlet. there were two kinds, a cooper cr15v and a br15v. i installed the cr15v and nothing happened, no power to the outlet. is there a difference with the types of outlets i bought or am i looking at bad wiring. other outlets in that room work and the light switches do too. thanks for the help!!!

Locate the breaker that supplies power to the room, turn it off. Remove the outlet nearest to the dead one (it may be on the other side of the wall), and verify that all of the connections are tight. Then put it back together and repower the circuit. If that does not fix the problem, it is time to call a qualified professional electrician to do some trouble shooting.

Q. A place to list bad landlords? australia?
is there a place where tenants can 'blacklist' bad landlords? i know there is one for landlords to list tenants for the smallest or even false claims, but do we have the same fair option? tenants need to come together to stop the unfair rental rises, and bullying etc. they get away with it because we are desparate and there are plenty waiting in line to rent anything. dumps with bad electrical wiring, bad plumbing, bad everything and we have no redress.

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