Before You Call Your Electrician, Check These Things...
It is never a good idea to ignore signs that you might have a problem with your electrical system. However, sometimes things are not quite as extreme as they might seem at first. If you suspect that you might have an electrical issue, you should check the following things first before calling for an electrician.
Your Breaker Panel
If you have any issues with erratic current, absence of electrical flow, or other indications that the system isn’t producing enough electricity, you should examine your breaker panel before you do anything else. Ensure that all of the switches are positioned “on”, and that nothing is out of the ordinary. If a switch has turned on the circuit that’s giving you trouble, try turning it back to the "on" position to resolve the problem.
If the circuit keeps tripping even after being reset, then there may be something more seriously wrong with either the circuit or the panel itself. In such cases, it would be best to call an electrician to evaluate the system as soon as possible.
Your Appliances
Checking your appliances is a good thing to do. Most often, what appears to be an electrical issue is located in the appliance itself rather than the system. If you are having issues with light flickering, for example, try unplugging the light first and plugging a different light into the same outlet to see the results. If that solves the problem, then there are no worries. If it doesn’t, you may have to have a professional take a look at your system.
Your Walls
When electrical current meets resistance, it vents some of its energy as heat. Carefully feel around the area that is experiencing the issue (one way to check and see if there might be an electrical problem in your walls). For example, if your lights are not functioning, feel the wall around the light switch to see if it is unusually warm. If so, you might have an electrical issue that needs to be dealt with immediately. Dimmer switches may be a little different. Those switches are designed to run slightly hotter than normal on/off switches, so you shouldn’t stress unless they’re running very hot.
These few items can help you identify whether or not your electrical system is in need of a professional electrician. However, if your electrical system is experiencing some type of issue, is is necessary to have a professional electrician address and correct it for you.
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