5 Safety Tips To Protect Your Older Home From Electrical Fires
One of the most important things for every owner of an older home is electrical safety to prevent house fires.
The first thing to realize, if you have an older home, is that your modern family's demand for power may put a load on the electrical system that it cannot handle. Your big side-by-side refrigerator, washing machine and clothes dryer, storage freezer, HVAC system, modern range and oven, microwave, dishwasher, and other appliances have powerful motors that tax old electrical systems.
Therefore, protecting your home from electrical fires is a must. Here are some suggestions from our Albuquerque electricians at Energized Electric.
1. Upgrade your electrical panel
You never want to let the electrical panel get outdated. The panel is there to protect your home from house fires. The breakers within the panel will switch the power to a circuit off if the wires along the circuit get hot from an overload. The panel needs to be upgraded about every five to seven years so that the components within can keep up with the modern demand of your household.
2. Install more outlets
Older homes don't have the outlets necessary to run a modern household. If you find that you need extension cords all the time, it is time to install more outlets in your home. Extension cords only multiply the load problem that an outdated electrical system already can't handle.
3. Upgrade the feeder lines
The feeder lines are the lines that connect to your home from the utility poles nearby. Older houses often have two-wire feed lines instead of three-wire. These lines are not capable of supporting 240-volt appliances. The feeder line should be upgraded when you have the electrical panel upgraded or you may wind up with a house fire.
4. Install surge protection
Surge protection is installed directly into the main electrical panel of your home. This equipment protects all your appliances, heavy HVAC system, lighting, wiring circuits, and other electrical components during a power surge. Power strip surge protectors are not enough.
5. Install a dedicated circuit to heavy appliances
Use a freezer in the garage or utility room? An electrician should install a dedicated circuit if you use heavy appliances that aren't normal for an older home. Don't overload the outlets in these rooms that aren't meant for an additional heavy appliance.
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