Residential Electrical Solutions When the System Needs Upgrading

Homeowners need residential electrical solutions experiencing power-related problems in the house or want to make substantial changes. Breakers might be tripping or fuses blowing. The household may be gradually adding more electrical equipment that requires more features and wiring upgrades. An electrician providing residential service solves these issues.

Discovering Problems

In some cases, men and women buy an older house and don't have enough money to fully furnish it right away. It's their starter home, and they begin with a relatively small refrigerator, a stove and a microwave oven. After adding a larger refrigerator, they find that the power draw is too much for the system while running the microwave. An electrician should add another circuit for that small oven because it uses so much power, even though operating for a short time. 

This can also be a problem when placing power-hungry appliances in one room, such as a laundry room. Moving the smaller refrigerator in there may cause issues when the washing machine or clothes dryer is running. All of these appliances have motors or compressors that put significant demand on the system. Adding a chest freezer may require additional circuitry as well.

Adding Outlets and Upgrading Wiring 

In general, homeowners should not simply use extension cords and power strips after bringing more electrical devices into the home. Extension cords are intended for short-term use only. Power strips are meant to run low-wattage equipment like desktop computers and battery chargers. Plugging in a power-hungry device like a coffee maker here puts too much demand on the wiring.

Additional outlets should be installed, and the wiring may need an upgrade. The household residents should note whenever running two devices at the same time causes the system to shut down. This work also is recommended if plugging in a device for limited use trips a breaker or blows a fuse. For example, hairdryers and vacuum cleaners require a significant amount of power. The home's wiring must be capable of handling all electrical devices running at any given time.

Power Tools

If someone in the household plans to start using power tools outside regularly, this is another consideration. At a minimum, additional circuitry and another exterior outlet should be installed. More wiring could be extended to the garage. An electrician should evaluate the system to make sure it can handle the load. Some homeowners decide to buy a generator and use that to run power tools instead.

Call residential electrical services to learn more.