Preventative Maintenance on Your Electrical System Can Save Trouble and Money

Electricity. For some that words "sparks" some emotion. If you've ever had electrical troubles, or even a fire, you know that electricity is nothing to take for granted.

The common causes for electrical fires are overloading of circuits, most common, and loose connections. While an overload problem can only be fixed by rewiring, there are things you can do to prevent problems caused by loose connections.

When an electrical connection becomes loose it begins to build heat. Oft times a loose connection will begin to spark by which oxidation is formed. As oxidation grows the path for the electricity to flow becomes smaller by which more heat is produced. It's a formula for disaster. On a large scale, many companies have what is called an "infra red scan" of the facilities. An infra red scanner is used to scan for "hot" spots in electrical boxes and electrical panels. I have personally witnessed a loose connection be 30 degrees hotter than a properly tightened connection. It truly does make a difference. I have witnessed the same loose connection drop within a matter of minutes to normal temperature after simply tightening the screw or lug that it's attached to.

In your home you can prevent these types of work. You will need a voltage tester and a screwdriver or two and perhaps a Saturday's worth of time.

Obviously the most important first step is shutting off power. If you are comfortable with this procedure you can do one circuit in your house at a time. It's important that your circuits are marked well in your electrical panel. If not, then you need to shut the main breaker off for the whole house.

Once power is turned off, remove your electrical panel cover. WARNING: The wires coming from the meter base, on the "line" side of your main breaker, are still going to be energized or "hot." DO NOT touch these wires. The bars in the panel that the breakers attach to and the wires coming off the breakers should be de-energized. Use a voltage meter to be sure ALWAYS be sure.

After confirming power is off you can simply start going down each breaker and tightening the screw. Some of them may not move, some of them may turn half a turn or more. Do not over tighten the screw as you can strip it and will then need to replace the breaker. A general rule of thumb is, if it doesn't turn easily, it's probably tight.
You may be surprised how much some of the screws turn.

You should have a "neutral" bar where the white wires and possibly the bare copper or green ground wires are attached. Tighten these screws as well by the same principles.

While you are in the panel and the power is off, go ahead and "exercise" the breakers. Do this by simply flipping them to the "off" position. Leave them in that position until after completing the next steps.

You can now start doing your branch circuits. Branch circuits are the devices and wiring attached to the breakers.
Pick a room and start removing the outlets and switches from the walls. You only need to back them out enough to tighten the screws on the sides of the device. There is no need to take wires off of the devices or unscrew any wire nuts in the box. If you can't easily get to the screws on the device it would be better to pass on it and move on to the next one. You can cause yourself more work by taking wires loose or forcing the situation.

Obviously you don't have to do this all in one setting. You can take several days or weeks to go through each room. Do it comfortably at your leisure.

After completing all of your branch circuits you are ready to re-energize your electrical system.

Before turning the breakers back on, flip the main back to the "on" position. Turning power back on to the panel before energizing the branch circuits gives a smoother start up to your system.

Now, one a time, flip your branch circuit breakers back to the "on" position.

Believe it or not this simple procedure makes your electrical system safer. It can prevent future trouble and in some cases even fire.

Happy fixing.