6 Electric Safety Checks To Do Before Buying A House

When you're buying a new home you need to cover several bases to ensure you're getting a good deal and not running into additional expenses once you take ownership. Real Estate agents may not review a home with a fine-toothed comb the way you would since their incentive is commission and not ownership. It's up to you as the homeowner to ensure you have a home checklist ready.

While foundation and construction are the most important, one that many tend to overlook is the electricity access, usage and wiring of a home.

Do you know how to run an electrical safety check before purchasing a house? Many people don't realise it, but electrical checks are inevitable to reduce the risk of electrical fire and costly electrical repairs in the future.

This post throws light on six crucial ways to thoroughly check the electrical wires and cables of your new house or apartment for any fault.

6 Important electrical checks

Do these six electrical safety checks before you move into your new house/apartment for your and your family's safety:

1. The quality of switches & outlets

The switches and outlets are something you and your family will use daily. So they need to be entirely checked. It is recommended not to do it yourself if you don't have proficient knowledge of electricity. Call an electrician to check all the switches and outlets of your new adobe. They all must be in good working condition. Check for any cracks or physical defects. Outlets also need to be grounded and have proper tension.

2. The GFCI in outlets of wet area

Water is an excellent conductor of electricity and can easily cause electrocution. Thus checking the outlets of wet areas for GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) is one of the most crucial electrical checks. GFCI is fitted in the moist regions of the house, such as the kitchen and bathroom.

It cuts off the power the moment it detects any hazardous imbalanced current. It also cuts off the power when water and electrical appliance come in contact. In this way, your costly electrical appliances get saved from electrical damage. Moreover, it prevents any unfortunate electrical accident with you or your loved ones.

3. Installation of electrical wires & cable

You can't ignore scanning the house for exposed electrical wires and cables. They are a direct threat to your and your equipment's safety. The wiring needs to be good quality, installed perfectly, shouldn't have any obstacles, and performing well.

This electric check becomes more vital if the house you are going to move into is more than 30 years old. You don't want to step in (forget living) in a house with faulty wiring.

4. Capacity & size of the electrical service panel

A modern home with the latest equipment needs 200-amp electric service panels. Check if your house is equipped with it or not. You will find 60-amp or 100-amp electric panels in old homes. Consult an electrician about accommodating your appliances to your current electric panel or upgrading the electric panel.

One more crucial fact you need to remember is that the age of an electric panel is 30 years. So you need to replace it if it's sitting there for more than three decades.

5. Smoke alarms in working condition

Malfunctions in smoke alarms are responsible for many injuries and casualties globally. Unfortunately, most homeowners ignore a smoke alarm's maintenance and battery requirement. You will find outdated smoke alarms in many houses. Ensure that the smoke alarms of your new home are hardwired and have a backup battery.

Smoke alarms must be positioned at the right locations and in sufficient quantity. Call a licensed electrical engineer to run this necessary electric check.

6. Load on circuits

Circuits of older homes are generally overloaded. They were not designed to handle a current lot of electrical devices. So they can take a limited amount of electrical current. Check whether your circuit is receiving more demand than it can handle.

How do you know your circuit is overloaded! Is it tripping often? Is a burning smell coming from it? Are your appliances not working correctly? The switches and outlets are buzzing, or are they hot to touch? If your answer to any or all of these questions is a yes, your circuit is overloaded. The standard solution is to install new circuits.

Advantages of electrical safety checks

Apart from ensuring your family's safety, there are various other advantages of electrical inspection. It prevents future electrical malfunction, repair costs, and even electric fire. You can use these electric safety checks to improve the quality of current electric wires and cables.

You can also negotiate the price of your new house based on the fact that you need to spend money to make the house's electric system fit for current use.

Bottom line

Now you have the six essential electric checks you need to ask your electrician to complete before buying or moving into a new house. Use them to timely rectify any electrical issue before it becomes complicated and expensive to repair the damage.

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Recommended reading

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