Why you should know the basics of your house wiring

For a homeowner, it is important that you should at least know the basics of house wiring to avoid any challenges in future especially if you are not an electrical contractor. When your electrician is doing electrical installations as part of the remodelling project of your house, you should have some amount of knowledge about the house wiring basics by simply noticing the processes. The parts of electrical wiring fittings that are located in your house are-receptacles, switches, light outlets, appliances etc. We shall briefly explain them.

Main Service Panel

This is a basic house wiring point responsible for the distribution of power to all circuits present in the house. This electrical wiring at home is the central distribution point and each circuit has a fuse or which is called circuit breaker.

credit image
http://lauterbornelectric.com

They automatically shut down if electricity is overused in your house or if there is any short circuit. The tools and circuit breakers are measured in amps.

Electric Meter

This is a basic electrical wiring point to indicate how much power is used in a household. The standard unit of measurement in the electricity meter is the KW hour. This amounts equal to the energy used by a load of one kilowatt over a period of one hour.

credit image
https://upload.wikimedia.org

Service Head

This type of house wiring is also called the weather head/weather cap. This is the entry point of aerial electrical wiring installation into your home. This is a pivotal point where all the wires will enter the home at an angle of 45 degrees. It looks like a hood, waterproof in nature. These wires are powerful and carry a standard amount of 240-volt service to your home. They contain two wires with 120-volt current and one grounded neutral wire.

Electrical Boxes as a part of house wiring

They are a basic part of the house wiring structure where the endpoint where the wires are connected and provides power either as a switch or an outlet. This type of electrical wiring is an essential requirement for mounting devices, for example, switch, receptacle and light fixtures. The outlets are mostly used, while a ground fault circuit interrupter or GFCIs are needed in some places of your house. They are usually contained in either a plastic or a metal electrical box as per standard recommendations.

Ground electrical wiring

A ground wire as a component of a basic house wiring is present in every house, which connects the electrical system to the earth through copper rods or metal water pipes.

credit image
http://www.housingforhealth.com

The current is regulated through the circuit and return to its original source, the main service panel. This ground wire is a white neutral wire found in every house.

Safety precautions while handling electrical wiring repairs

You should remember that the power passing through the service head to the electric meter, and subsequently to the main service panel is very strong. Shutting down of power is necessary before working on these areas of basic house wiring.

As a homeowner, you should keep a few handy tools at your home. To perform any fix on electrical wiring at home you require these tools. Buy them from any nearby hardware store. The list is long, some of them include-Fish Tape, Wire Strippers, Swivel Screwdriver, Needle-nose Pliers, Multimeter, or a Digital Multimeter, Electrical Tape, Circuit Testers, Short circuit detector, Hammer, Cordless Screwdriver etc.

If you want to experiment your skills in electrical repairings, then knowing about these house wiring basics in prior will enable you to easily identify the defects and to fix it accordingly.