There is hardly anyone that does not experience wire connection problems in their apartments. And the truth is, just a few people know how to handle these problems. A lot of people prefer to hire an expert to help them sort it out rather than to do it themselves. This is quite understandable because whatever concerns wire connection requires great care in order to avoid getting hurt or damaging your appliances. Even though there are already several safety measures to protect against wire accidents, there are still a lot of things to be careful about.
The problems that are discussed in this article are ones that you can easily solve without professional help, that is if you have the basic skill to pull it off. Knowing how to handle them can save you the time of waiting for the electrician to arrive, especially if the fault or faults interfere with your daily activities, which could be a huge disturbance. It also helps you to get familiar with the common issues that you may encounter in your apartment.
The major hindrance, however, may be getting the needed tools to do the job. But that is not something to worry since most of these tools are readily available in stores, and if you do a lot of repairs around the house, you may have some of them already. So what are these connection issues, how can you identify and eventually solve them? Let’s see.
Cables are not tight enough
When your cables start giving you problems, this could most likely be the cause, so it’s best to check for this first. It is very common in most apartments and you may notice it as buzzing sounds, especially from a switch or any other outlet in your home or office. This is not usually a big issue to correct, the first thing you want to do is to turn off power to the switch that you suspect to have the problem, uncover it and carefully examine the wires, its best to do this with a torchlight, it makes the internal compartments more visible.
Once you identify a loose connection, secure the wires together to get it working again. This method is used not only for connections in the switch, but also wires that may pass through it. If the switch or any other device with this issue, has any temporary fixure, it is preferable to check them first before reconnecting the wires. This is because you may be focusing on the new loophole, while the issue lies with old connections that were not properly done.
Too much load
To start with, there are several possible reasons why this can happen. One of which is that you may be connecting high voltage appliances to your power source, a common example being high-watt bulbs. In most cases, you need to unplug this appliance from the light source or replace it with a low-voltage alternative. Contact an electrician in Dandenong if you do not know what type of bulb is suitable for you, and also to confirm if the power source can conveniently power your appliances.
Wire and screw problem
This could be dangerous, especially if it is not quickly corrected. If you find that more than one wire is connected under a screw, it is a valid pointer that the wiring is not properly done here. How to solve this, switch off the device or power source, this will protect you from any form of electrocution, then disconnect the wires from the screw. Now, you will need to create a new connection between these wires and the terminal. So rather than connect them directly to each other, you can do so indirectly using a bridge. First get an extra wire, then join one of its ends to the other wires while you connect the other end to the terminal. This way the initial cables do not have to be in direct contact with the terminal.
Power spurts
This is a common problem, and can be quite dangerous, especially for your appliances. Houses with bad power lines may experience this problem, and also in cases of lightning strike. Another reason is faulty appliances; to correct this, disconnect the faulty device from the power source.
Wires are not properly covered
This is another sign that your wireworks are not perfect. If you notice cables with an open wires then you know something needs to be done. This problem occurs when wires are wrongly fastened causing them to loose over time. Again, switch off the power to the device and disconnect the wires. You’ll need to cut off some part of the wire stripe, this is so you can have enough room to join the wires. Also, using the wrong materials for making wire connections can be detrimental. There are ideal materials to use for this, and sometimes improvising may not always be the best approach. An example is securing connections with tape. Although this could be a temporary measure, you should replace it as soon as you can.
When they are shocks
If you experience electrical shocks when you turn on your appliances, in most cases, if not all, it signifies a problem. And you may notice that this happens even when you turn your appliances off. So first, you want to be sure whether the problem is from the device or the socket. You can try plugging in another device to check. If the problem persists, then you need an expert to help fix the problem as soon as possible.
Even though most of these problems are easy to solve, if you do not have the confidence or the tools to repair them, it is better to hire an expert to help you out. But if you do, you can just do it yourself. Most of these wire problems are usually a result of the same thing which is most times, connections that have loosened over time. This can sometimes be a result of poorly done connections or just simply an effect of time.