Electrical points to check for when viewing a potential home purchase.

Pete Stiles of Sir Sparks (Electrical) Inc. (10/10/2008)

The electrical installation in any home you are considering purchasing is an important factor. We have given some tips here to help you decide if it is worth calling a professional to check it out, and if so who to call.

Firstly consider the age of your home and the builder; If it is less than 20 years old, has had no additions and was constructed by a reputable builder then it should be sufficient to have a Home Inspector complete the check as part of his whole house survey.

Even so it is possible to do a few basic checks yourself before going to the expense of a survey. If you feel comfortable removing the front cover of the main electrical panel then a wealth of information can quickly be obtained there concerning the standard of the original installation and if there have been any changes by an unqualified person. Remember though that wires inside the panel are hot and therefore dangerous, only remove the cover if you feel confident and NEVER touch anything inside.

First of all check that all the wires are neatly bundled and “squared off” as they enter their points of connection, this does not make the installation any better or worse, but it is a sure fired way of telling if the original wireman was likely to cut corners, if he did so here it is a good bet he did so where it really matters.

Next check to see if all of the circuit breakers, without exception, only have one wire entering one terminal, any more than it is a sure sign that someone other than an electrician with little National Electrical Code knowledge has been adding wires. This should be a major Red Flag to you.

While the panel is open a visual inspection for overheating especially at the points of connection of all the wires is a good idea, it is usually very obvious if this is the case and will need to be addressed quickly.

Finally see if you have a printed or neatly written schedule of circuits inside the panel cover, if some have been scratched out and written over this is another red flag that something has been changed and perhaps not correctly.

Next a very quick look in the roof space via the hatch normally located in the garage is an excellent way of checking for “handyman” work sometimes not so handy.

You should not see any wires at all within a few feet of the opening that are not protected by a wood strip of some kind, and as you shine your flashlight farther in make sure there are no open junction boxes or worse yet, connections with no box at all. This is easily checked with a good flashlight without the need to crawl into the space. For some reason “handymen” never seem to use or close junction boxes and this is a serious fire risk which will also mean a much more complete survey will be necessary.

For houses more than 20 years old as well as the above procedures you should also check to see that all receptacles are of the grounding type, by this we mean that they have 3 holes in them for a three prong plug. Even if they do, they may have been retro-flitted without the necessary additional ground wire being added so investing in a $4 home depot plug in receptacle checker is a great idea. Just check a few outlets to make sure that BOTH yellow lights and NO red light illuminate, this will tell you that the necessary ground wires are in place and also that it is correctly wired.

As a general visual inspection;

Check that any ceiling fans appear to be very securely attached to the ceiling, it is common for the Do-it-yourselfer to not add the required fan box bracing and this could result in the fan coming down with a good portion of the ceiling at any moment.

Check that any outside receptacles have a weatherproof cover and a receptacle inside with a means of testing, this means that it is a GFCI device and was most likely correctly installed. Even so, providing there is power to the house it won’t hurt to push the test button to make sure it clicks off.

A final piece of advice, should your checks not reveal anything wrong following the above guidelines then it is probably sufficient to hire a home inspector to complete the survey but remember that although trained he is not an expert, and usually not even an qualified electrician, he likely wont check much more than we have just explained to you.

Should you find any problems at all as we outlined above then make sure you hire a qualified Master Electrician who is also prepared to give you a written report, possibly this will help your insurance costs too.