What Are Electrical Emergencies?
Most of the time, our houses don’t cause us too many problems, with the inner workings of the property such as the plumbing, electrics and gaswork all ticking over quietly behind the scenes without really making their presence felt.
However, it is inevitable that issues will crop up from time to time, so it’s important to have the number of a reputable and experienced emergency electrician close to hand just in case something happens and you aren’t sure what to do.
Where your electrical system is concerned, you must have certain issues checked out quickly as they can pose a significant health and safety risk if left to their own devices.
To help you decide what action needs to be taken, here are certain situations that represent an emergency and which need to be dealt with efficiently in order to keep your home and your family safe.
Sparks flying
If you see any sparks or flames coming from a switch, outlet or electrical appliance, you need to act immediately and turn the power off at the consumer panel, switching the specific breaker off. These should be labelled to make it easier for you.
Once you’ve done this, get in touch with your electrician so they can come out and take a look, carrying out any necessary repairs.
Electric shocks
You should never receive an electric shock while at home and if you do, it’s a signal that there’s something seriously wrong somewhere, either with faulty wiring or with the equipment you’re using. If you or someone else suffers an electric shock, seek immediate medical attention and then isolate the affected socket or equipment at the consumer panel.
Burning/fishy smells
A smell of burning at home suggests there’s a serious problem with your electrics that will need to be addressed quickly, but also be mindful that fishy smells are also indicative of overheating, increasing the risk of an electrical fire breaking out.
Tripping circuit breakers
Circuit breakers can trip for all sorts of reasons, but one of the main ones is overloading the system. If your breakers keep tripping, unplug some of the appliances and see if this resolves the issue. If, however, the breakers continue to trip and you can’t work out why, you’ll need to call out an electrician to come and take a look.
Flickering lights
It might not seem like a big problem, but flickering lights can be symptomatic of something serious going on behind the scenes. This could be anything from bad wiring to faulty electrics, so you need an electrician to carry out a review of the system to ensure that it doesn’t pose a risk to health.
Of course, these are just a couple of potential issues and if you have anything else you’re concerned about, get in touch with the Volt East team to see how we can help make your home electrically safe and give you peace of mind.