Electrical Home Safety Inspection
We Inspect Your Entire Electrical System
A comprehensive electrical home inspection is an extremely valuable service and is an essential element to ensuring the safety and security of your family and property. It helps keeps you and your home safe from electrical malfunction and can also save you money by making your electrical system more energy efficient.
Main Electrical Panel
The main electrical panel is the heart of your entire electrical system. Electrical panels serve as the distribution center for electricity as they push the electricity through wires or circuits to different electrical systems in your home to keep it powered on. The main panel should be thoroughly inspected every year to make sure the wire connections are properly tightened and the breakers are properly connected to the buss bars, which are metallic strips or bars that conduct electricity within the main panel. We also use an infrared heat scan of your electrical panel to insure there aren’t any problematic hot spots developing. Without a highly reliable and functioning electrical panel, nothing will work the way it’s supposed to.
GFCI Protection
A GFCI device protects us from receiving electric shocks from faults in the electrical devices we use in our home. It works by comparing the input current on the hot side to the output current on the neutral side. A GFCI acts as a circuit breaker of sorts, shutting off power to the outlet and devices in use when a ground fault is detected. GFCI outlets should be tested once a month for safety reasons and every year by a professional electrician. They should be installed in the kitchen, bathrooms, and all outdoor outlets.
Smoke Detectors
Your smoke detector’s primary function is to notify you of any suspicious smoke inside your house. This includes everything from burnt cooking, improperly extinguished cigarettes, and electrical fires. Your smoke alarm will sound at the first sign of trouble warning you of a fire before the flames get out of control.
Install smoke detectors in every bedroom, in the hallways, and on each level of your home. Bonney electrical technicians can assist you in planning where the smoke detectors will benefit you and your family the most. Be sure to test your smoke detectors every month.
Existing Fluorescent and Incandescent Lighting
Both types of lighting can be retrofitted with LED fixtures. Many LEDs have a rated life of up to 50,000 hours, which is approximately 50 times longer than a typical incandescent bulb and 8-10 times longer than a CFL bulb. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, electricity used for artificial lighting in the U.S. could be cut by nearly half by 2030 through the adoption of high efficiency LEDs.
Whole House Surge Protection
If you want to protect devices plugged into outlets anywhere in your home, have a Whole House Surge Protection System professionally installed directly to your electrical panel by our electrical technicians Bonney. All electricity coming into the house can be diffused and keep a steady, balanced power supply. A Whole House Surge Protector will give you a sense of relief knowing that your appliances and electronic devices are safe and protected from an unexpected power surge. They can also save you thousands of dollars in damage!
Tamper Resistant Outlets
The National Electrical Code (NEC), requires that new and renovated homes must have tamper-resistant receptacles. According to a 10-year report released by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, approximately 2,400 children receive emergency room treatment every year for injuries caused by inserting objects into electrical outlets. Having tamper resistant outlets will give homeowners a sense of relief that small children will be safe from injury.
Checking For Back Stabbed Connections
Improperly installed receptacles are found in a lot of homes. The method being used to install these plugs is called “back stabbing”. This refers to inserting the wire into a stab lock connection at the back of the electrical receptacle, instead of wrapping the wire around the set screws provided for proper installation. Back stabbing can lead to overheating and a possible electrical fire.
Arc Fault Protection
An arc fault is a high power discharge of electricity between two or more conductors. This discharge translates into heat, which can break down the wire’s insulation and possibly trigger an electrical fire. There are a wide range of conditions that may cause arcing including wire degradation, humidity or heat, extended mechanical stress, physical damage, poor wiring or connections, or even animals chewing through insulation. Arc faults in the home are one of the leading causes for electrical wiring fires. Each year in the U.S., over 40,000 fires are attributed to home electrical wiring. These fires result in over 350 deaths and over 1,400 injuries each year.
An Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter (AFCI) outlet is designed to recognize many types of potentially hazardous arc-faults and respond by interrupting power, reducing the likelihood of the home’s electrical system being an ignition source of the fire.
Checking for Proper Grounding of Your Electrical System
Proper grounding is an important and valuable safety feature that should not be overlooked. That is why it is important to have a Bonney electrical technician check and confirm that your electrical system is grounded.