Rewiring a home is no easy task, and not one that you would probably willingly take on yourself—nor should you. However, sometimes whole-house rewiring is necessary in order to improve daily electrical use and to increase home safety. This type of job requires a team of expert electricians who are licensed and trained in this type of electrical service.

The demand for electricity in our homes has dramatically increased since the 1980s, and seems to only be rising. In addition to more powerful appliances, there are constant technological advances and new devices out on the market, all requiring electricity to run.

Even if your home is only a couple decades old, it could very well need a wiring upgrade, as this heightened demand for power can easily overwhelm an older wiring system. Additionally, if your home is over 5 decades old and still has its original copper wiring, you and your family could be in danger of fire risks and power surges.

Below are a few signs that indicate you could be in need of whole-house rewiring:

You have aluminum wiring: In the mid-60s through the mid-70s, aluminum wiring replaced copper wiring. However, aluminum wiring can overheat and cause fires, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. If you’ve confirmed that you home was built during this time, you’ll want to consult with a professional electrician.

Your circuit breakers are constantly tripping: Have you found yourself habitually going to the circuit breaker panel to reset tripped breakers? If this is the case, it could be a sign from your home that its electrical system can’t handle the current demands being placed on it.

You’ve noticed charred, discolored outlets: Marks such as these are indicative of electrical fires caused by shorts within the outlet. At the very least, the outlet will need an upgrade, but it’s best to replace all the wiring.

There is an acrid smell in the air: Have you noticed a burning smell when you turn on the lights in your home, with no clear source? Then it’s time to call an electrician, because something could be wrong with your home’s wiring and it will need replacement.

1-by-4-foot,  LED light panels use Even-Glow® technology and diffused optical lenses to deliver smooth, flawless illumination without visible bulbs or hot spots. They can be recessed mounted or surface mounted to an existing ceiling junction box. The LED fixtures emit up to 4,600 lumens of natural white illumination for home lighting, kitchen lighting, living room lighting, office lighting, basement lighting, sign backlighting, hospital lighting, and more.

LEDs in the panel lights are designed to last five times longer than fluorescent tube light bulbs without the notorious hum or flicker they produce. Each LED panel light has a slim, white aluminum alloy frame and an internal 0-10-volt dimmable constant-current driver. Dimming can be achieved with a 0-10-volt switch or by using the light’s power-cycle feature to activate set brightness levels. The energy-efficient panel lights operate within a 100-277V AC range.

To most people, circuit panels are the first place they go when power fails to a room.  The loud click heard when a space heater or hair dryer overloads a circuit usually calls for a quick trip to flip a circuit breaker back on.  Every building depends on the circuit panel for safety and electrical management for the home.  The electrical panel for your home, along with the attached circuit breaker, serves to delegate power throughout the home.  By splitting up power demands, it prevents overloads in separate rooms and isolates individual features and appliances.

You may be wondering why we need to split up circuits the way we do.  If all of our devices operate on 120 volts, why do we need separate circuits?  The answer has to do with the physical quirks of wiring.  You see, while everything operates off of the 120 volts delivered by your home’s wiring, the power demands are different for each device.  As power is applied to a circuit, current flows over the wiring and heats it up.  The higher your power demands, the more current is flowing through the wires.

The wires in your home can only handle a set amount of current (most circuits are 20-amp circuits) before they overheat and begin to ignite insulation around them.  If you placed every light, appliance, and TV in your home on the same electrical circuit, you’d reach this thermal limit almost immediately.  To prevent his, we install circuit breakers to help separate energy demands to specific rooms.  We also separate the energy load to create special appliance circuits.  This is why your HVAC unit is on a separate circuit from your kitchen and your laundry room.  Appliance circuits use thicker wires which are designed to handle higher electrical loads.  High current circuits are expensive, so homes are designed to use them sparingly.

This is also why you should only ever replace breakers and fuses with new units that have the same tolerance.  Circuit breakers are designed to be the weakest link in a system.  They must trip before anything on the circuit itself would fail.  This safety feature means that the breaker will trip before wiring overheats or appliances are damaged by high-current draw.  If you do need to replace a breaker, always match it with the same current-rating.

Power surges are another reason we separate circuits in a home.  Whenever a load is applied to the system (you turn on a hair dryer, electrical appliance, or even a lamp) inrush current is also applied.  Inrush-current is the initial surge of power that occurs when current is increased.  Extra power is applied across the system, which causes a risk of electrical damage when a high-power device is applied to a low-power circuits.  To mitigate this, high-load motors such as those in power tools, HVAC systems, and other appliances are plugged into special appliance circuits.  This is also why you should plug sensitive low-voltage electronics into surge protectors.

Sometimes electrical panels can wear out.  While the signs are clear when you know what to look for, without experience you have no way of knowing if it’s time to replace your panel.  Get an inspection for your electrical panel if:

If, however, you happen to notice one of two logos, Federal Pacific Electric (FPE) or Zinsco, you should call for a replacement immediately.  These older models of electrical panels are unsafe and should be replaced quickly.

For the best in quality electrical repair work and installations, contact the professionals at Custom Electric!  Be sure to check back here each week for helpful advice, news, and guides or follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

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