One of the trickiest electrical problems to deal with can be solving electrical faults that impact your household networks, appliances or equipment.
These faults interrupt electrical flows and in some unfortunate cases can cause significant economic loss and even injury or death.
Given the high stakes potentially involved it’s critical to deal with electrical faults in a prompt manner when they arise in your home. Here’s what you need to know.
What is an electrical fault?
It can get pretty technical but in simple terms, an electrical fault represents a deviation of voltages and currents from standard values or states in an electrical network or machine.
When the fault occurs, there’s a surge in electrical current that flows through the network or device which causes damage to the item with potentially life-threatening results.
There are various reasons for an electrical fault. An electrical fault takes place in the electrical circuitry of the network or appliance, meaning the problem could be located in any of its components like lights, pumps, plugs and sockets, fans and motors, transformers, refrigerators, switching devices, relays, fuses, lamps, circuit breakers and fusible links.
Fault finding
Electrical fault finding is the first step on the road to fixing your electrical fault. It’s generally defined as testing the operation of an electrical network or equipment to determine if the electrical device is safe and working properly, as defined by relevant standards
Problems leading to electrical faults can come from many causes. These include loose or corroded connections, fusing problems, a dodgy earth connection, or fusible connections that are worn down or melted. It could also be a faulty electrical sensor or relay.
Whatever the electrical fault ends up being, it’s essential that fault detection is undertaken in order to identify the problem and figure out the correct solution. In many cases, this means selecting or designing suitable electromechanical relays, switchgear equipment, circuit breakers, and other electrical protection devices.
Importance of calling an electrician
As mentioned, electrical faults have the unfortunate potential to cause extensive damage to appliances and devices in your home, and more problematically can also be a fire hazard.
Some electrical fault finding can be straightforward, especially if there’s a very noticeable problem such as simple circuit issues like a short circuit. However, certain electrical faults aren’t always clear so it’s advisable to call in experts to deal with the problem. This is also a safer approach.
If you are looking to find a local accredited professional electrician, our marketplace is a great place to start.
Service and maintenance
Staying ahead of problems before they arise is ultimately the best way to deal with electrical issues. The same goes for electrical faults however they arise in your home.
By getting a professional to conduct regular electrical service and maintenance on your home you’ll have peace of mind when it comes to the safety and proper working of your electrical networks and appliances.
This way, you’ll be able to catch issues before they become a big problem. This is especially the case in terms of corrosion or melting of electrical elements or slow, sustained damage to electrical wiring that can be caused by rodents, insects or other pests.
How often should you organise a service?
If you’re a business owner or an employer, many states and territories in Australia make it compulsory for you to ensure that electrical equipment is regularly inspected and tested by a competent person, usually a qualified electrician.
For homeowners, it’s advised to have regular electrical maintenance to keep your electrical wirings, switchboards, appliances, earthing connections and fittings meeting relevant standards.
The best maintenance for indoor and outdoor
Working with electricity is dangerous, to be safe, you should be to get an experienced electrician to do electrical work that comes with any danger to you or your loved ones.
Other keys to keep your electrical systems working properly include not plugging in too many appliances to one circuit which can overload it, not forcing plugs into outlets, and scheduling regular professional services.
In terms of outdoors electrical items, like lights, it also pays to check for weather-related compromised fixtures or wiring which can often suffer corrosion from the elements.