To answer the question “Should I worry about electrical repairs in a new home?” we need to specify what new means. Was the house built recently? Or is it “new” because it is new to you, regardless of its age? In either case, there is a simple rule to follow: if you think you need electrical repairs, you probably do—no matter how old the house is. Always worry about electrical repairs if there are signs that you need them.

When you move into any home built more than 10 years ago, you should hire an electrician to check the system for problems. Despite surface appearances, a home may have wiring troubles from DIY repair attempts from a previous owner; you want to make sure there are no serious problems that need immediate repair to prevent safety hazards.

With a home built pre-1970, you may encounter difficulties from an electrical system that cannot support modern demands. Check on the outlets and the circuit breaker panel. If the home has two-prong outlets and a fuse box instead of a circuit breaker panel, you should have new installations done to upgrade the system. Otherwise you may end up with some major repair worries in the near future. Older circuit breaker panels are often not up to the task of contemporary power needs. If you experience frequent blown fuses or tripped breakers, have a repair technician investigate right away.

With a recently-built house, you shouldn’t have many concerns about your power needs: the home should have sufficient wiring, updated GFCI outlets, and a new circuit breaker panel. However, you can’t simply go lax about small signs of difficulties or indications of improper electrical installation. Look for flickering lights that indicate small power surges. Although these rarely trip circuit breakers, they can cause damage to appliances over time. Call for a repair technician to see if your new home will benefit from a whole-house surge protector.

Check around your ceiling fixtures on occasion to see if they are growing hot. This indicates poor electrical insulation and sometimes occurs in new homes due to poor installation. If you detect poor electrical installation problems in one place in your home, they probably exist elsewhere; call for an electrician to examine your home’s electrical system thoroughly for faults.

This is the time of year when home fires seem to be prevalent. The addition of heaters, burning in fireplaces or woodstoves and the additional holiday decorations can increase the risk of a fire in the home. It makes more sense than ever to give your home a little bump in the safety department by adding another layer of protection in case of a fire. A hard-wired smoke detector is an excellent option for those who are worried their battery-operated smoke detector won’t be working at a time that is most important. An electrician in Los Angeles, like those at The Electric Connection, can help you sleep a little better at night knowing your home has several functional smoke detectors.

Hard-wired smoke detectors respond the same as a typical detector, but instead of relying solely on batteries, they are wired directly into your home’s power. Another real benefit to the hard-wired detectors explains a Los Angeles electrician is the fact they are all connected. When one alerts they all alert. This means that no matter where the smoke is first detected in the house, the entire household and even in the garage will be alert to the potential fire. This can add minutes to your escape time or give you time to catch a small, manageable fire before it engulfs the entire home.

If you have a home security system, this is typically the type of smoke detector that is used. There are apps that allow you to connect the smoke detector to your smartphone to alert you something is wrong. All of these are things you can discuss with your electrician. Los Angeles homeowners who want to do a little more to ensure the safety of their home and the occupants can give The Electric Connection a call today and schedule a fire detector installation.