Why should I hire a Licensed Electrician
Why should I hire a Licensed Electrician? As an Electrician I have seen a quite a few situations where dangerous wiring could have resulted in an electrical fire. The majority of the time that this occurs is with loose connections. Such as, a splice not quite tight enough, a screw loosening up over time, or an improper connection. The sad part, sometimes these errors are made by licensed electricians, but most of the time its done by DIY’ers or the local Handyman.
Safety
A licensed electrician brings safety to any electrical project. If an electrical project is wired correctly, it can lead to a fire, shock, and other hazards. This begs the question as to why folks would want to “tinker,” with electricity. Why not simply allow the skilled, licensed and experienced person to do it?
Whats in your Attic?
Just last month, I was trying to figure out why the power went off in a couple rooms in a house. I went up in the attic and it became clear pretty quickly with the smell of burnt wires. The smell of burning wires distinct and was stronger the longer I was in the attic.
The pictures below , shows burn marks in blown in insulation cased buy a junction box. The junction box was buried in the attic insulation and was starting to smolder, and the black spots in the photo is where the insulation was starting to catch fire. The photos of the junction box shows where an old splice finally gave way.
Loose splice about to catch on fire
Burnt insulation around an electrical junction box
Who did you hire?
This week I received a call that outlets in the dining room had stopped working. Upon inspection, I determined that the problem was actually by a GFCI outlet located on the dining room exterior wall. Its common to feed an outside outlet from a nearby room. Whomever did this wiring violated one of my rules, and something that I always preach to my employee’s not to do. To wire this GFCI, the original electrician came through the back of the outlet and used the clamp to tighten the wire down. What I don’t like about this method (although it is allowed) is that you are clamping a round wire with two flat clamps. There always seems to be wire movement when done this way. When you have wire movement, you are setting yourself up for a loose connection. Fortunately the GFCI outlet was properly secured in box and was allowed to fail and trip off the power.
Other times I have discovered outlets installed with no electrical box. This situation is scary because of its huge risk of fire.
Melted GFCI outlet
Toasted wires!!
Summary
Both of these examples showing electrical connections failing were done by licensed electricians. I can’t stress enough how important it is to hire a qualified licensed electrician. A professional electrician brings experience to the table, resulting in work that is efficiently executed and reliable.