Electrical Safety Tips

A home inspection covers a lot of ground in a few hours, and electrical issues can slip through or get a one-line mention in the report. Before you close, here’s what deserves a closer look. Start with the panel. Check the brand, since Federal Pacific Stab-Lok and Zinsco panels are known hazards. Look for rust,…

Older homes have plenty of character, but their wiring was designed for a lot less than we plug in today. Here are the issues we find most often, and why they matter. Two-prong outlets have no ground wire. Swapping in a three-prong outlet without a ground just hides the problem, because the third hole isn’t…

A hot tub is a big electrical load sitting in a tub of water, which is why the code has specific rules for how it’s wired. Most outdoor hot tubs run on a dedicated 240-volt circuit, often 40 to 60 amps depending on the model, so the first step is making sure your panel has…

If you’ve seen outlets with Test and Reset buttons, or breakers in your panel with a test button, you’ve seen GFCI and AFCI protection. The names sound alike, but they guard against different dangers. A GFCI protects people from shock. It watches the current going out and coming back on a circuit, and if some…

Today’s homes are full of electronics. It’s not just TVs and computers: furnaces, heat pumps, refrigerators, washers, and garage door openers all have circuit boards inside. A power surge can damage them instantly, or wear them down over time. Most surges don’t come from lightning. Many start inside the house when large appliances cycle on…

Holiday lights are one of the best parts of the season, and one of the most common causes of tripped breakers and damaged cords this time of year. A few habits keep things safe. Start with the ladder. Look up before you set it, and keep yourself and the ladder at least 10 feet from…

Daylight saving time ends Sunday, November 1. When you change your clocks, take ten minutes to check the alarms that protect your family while you sleep. Press the test button on every smoke and carbon monoxide alarm. Replace the batteries in battery-powered units and the backup batteries in hardwired ones. If an alarm still chirps…

Space heaters are behind a large share of home heating fires every winter, especially the deadly ones. Most of those fires start in the same few ways, and they’re easy to avoid. Plug it directly into a wall outlet. A typical space heater draws about 1,500 watts, close to the limit of a standard 15-amp…

Winter storms and ice can knock out power for days, and a portable generator can keep the heat, the fridge, and the lights running. But how you connect it matters as much as the generator itself. The dangerous shortcut is backfeeding: plugging the generator into a dryer or other outlet with a double-ended male cord.…

A pool puts water and electricity closer together than anywhere else at home. Here’s how equipotential bonding and the halo ring keep swimmers safe, and the warning signs to watch for.

An occasional flicker when the AC kicks on is usually harmless. But lights that dim or flicker regularly, breakers that trip repeatedly, or outlets and faceplates that feel warm are your home telling you something is wrong. These are often signs of an overloaded circuit, a loose connection, or an aging panel — and left…

If your home was built between the 1950s and 1980s, it may still have its original electrical panel — and a few brands from that era are now considered fire hazards. Zinsco (also sold as GTE-Sylvania) and Federal Pacific Electric (FPE) Stab-Lok panels are the big two. The concern is that their breakers can fail…