How to find out if your property needs rewiring.

Time to time we are getting calls from Toronto property owners concerned about their house or rental property electrical system, wondering if it has to be rewired . So what is the signs that you can look for to find out if your property has to be rewired?

Here are some of the typical signs that your house needs rewiring:

While a house rewiring service may seem to be expensive, it is one of the most important for the safety of your home. We understand that it is sometimes hard to notice for a not experienced person all small electrical deficiencies until it’s too late. So we’ve created a shortlist of the top 7 signs your house needs to be rewired:

1. Flickering and dimming lights

Depending on the exact location of flickering lights you can tell if the problem with the main electrical service or just one of the circuits. If lights is dimming/flickering in one room or one part of the house most likely all connections has to be looked up at the specific circuit feeding this particular lights. But in case of lights flickering throughout the whole house you may want to call an electrician immediately because it looks like you are experiencing problem with main panel or electrical service.

2. Fuses blown too often

Even one fuse blown in couple months is often. While mostly fuse will blow due to circuit overloading or wrong electrical wires connection sometimes fuse can burn down without a visible reason. In this case you may have a damaged wiring in your house and circuit can become short for for a moment and after you replace fuse everything will be working fine, but this is the real fire hazard. Growing amounts of electrical appliances in our homes results in old fuses which are not designed to take this amount of electricity blowing. And if you are noticing your fuse blows often, you may consider to upgrade them to more modern circuit breakers and probably add new circuits to powerful appliances.

3. Sparks or sounds in outlets

If you notice sparking outlets or electricity disappearing /appearing when you plug or unplug something it may be a first signal of a potentially problem. If your outlets are overloaded or having poor connection, excessive amount of heat is building up inside the outlet which may causes melted insulation and short circuits. When exposed, this can lead to electrical fires or shock.

4. A smell of burning plastic

Usually, when an electrical short occurs in the electrical plugs, the small sparks will cause a smell of burning. And If you are noticing a burning smell and are unable to identify the source of it, your circuits may also be shorting behind your walls or underneath your floors. Any smell of unidentified burning in the house should be tested by a licensed electricians as soon as possible and source of it has to be removed.

5. Lights flickering or power fluctuation

This can be caused by loose wiring connections, overloaded outlets or your main electrical service may need to be upgraded due to overloading. In this situation you may want to contact a licensed electrical contractor who will investigate and give you a list of problems and solutions along with an estimate.

6. A growing amount of extension cords

Ontario Electrical Safety Code says that electrical cords should be used only as a temporary solution. For example for Christmas Tree or electrical lawn mover. If you are using an appliance permanently you really need a dedicated outlet. Some appliances even require a dedicated circuit. A growing reliance upon extension cords is a typical sign that your house needs rewiring with additional sockets.

7. Outdated property and cabling

If your house is over build in 70-s or even older, you are most at risk from outdated cabling and degrading wires. Some houses build in 70-s has aluminum wiring which more like to degrade over the time. Many houses with aluminum wiring were renovated and copper wires may be connected with aluminum which is dangerous due to oxidation. You are not required to replace aluminum wires immediately but you should call an expert if you noticing any signs of electrical problems we were talking above in this article.

At ON Energy we have a team of professional and licensed electricians who will help you with your electrical panel upgrade and house rewiring. We provide free estimate and serving all GTA.