When you are purchasing a new home you can see the furnishings, paint and wallpaper along with the lovely kitchen and bathroom that have been installed. Finishing touches can sell a home to almost anyone. What you cannot see, is the condition of the electrical installation. This is a concern for a few reasons and your local Liverpool electrician will explain why.
It is common for a home to be completely renovated but the electrical system left in its original state or even added to without checking it is okay. It tends to be one of the vital components of our homes that is taken for granted and left whilst time and money are spent on the more cosmetic finishes. This can come back to cause problems after renovations have finished.
We do not enjoy telling clients that their home (whilst beautifully decorated and finished) now requires a rewire as the wiring is so out dated or is causing problems and poses a danger.
Having an electrical safety check carried out is one of the best insurance policies you can buy when purchasing a home that is not newly built. Newly built homes should come with a guarantee and a brand-new wiring system and therefore will not require a safety check for a good ten years. Second hand homes which represent most of the housing stock in the UK can really benefit from and Electrical Safety Check. The electrical system in our homes will function perfectly to the untrained eye even when there are hidden dangers present. Everything can seem to function perfectly normally but under fault conditions there can be very real dangers that no one but a qualified electrician is able to spot using sophisticated test equipment and knowledge.
The photograph above was taken during an electrical inspection we carried out for a client of ours. There were a few hidden dangers present here yet, the wiring had always seemed to function perfectly. All too often, we are only called to investigate when there is a circuit breaker tripping, a smell of burning or something is crackling or flickering. Occasionally we are called to make safe after a fire has broken out. These situations are preventable. All it takes is an occasional electrical safety check.
A typical electrical safety check carried out properly should involve several hours in the property testing each of the circuits that power lights, sockets, cooker, shower and so on. A typical electrical safety check on a 3 bedroom semi-detached house will take around 4 hours. That’s right, 4 hours. A substantial time period in order to fully test and inspect the cabling, the electrical accessories and any situations that may give rise to potential danger.
The larger the property, the larger the consumer unit / fuse board and the longer it will take to test and inspect. When we carry out an electrical safety check we look at lots of different things when assessing the safety of the installation. We check the sizes of cables in the circuit breakers, the condition of the electrical accessories like sockets and switches, we check each of the circuits be measuring resistance to look for loose connections and breaks in circuits. We check the equipment installed in bathrooms is suitable for the environment, we make sure that if you have electric shock protection that it is sufficient and functioning correctly to save lives. We make sure that your water and gas pipes are properly earthed to prevent shocks and injury. We carry out tests to assess the condition of the cabling in your home, to ensure sockets and switches are wired correctly and so on. It is an in-depth test and takes time to do properly.
Rest assured, we enjoy our jobs and carrying out electrical safety checks is one of our regular duties. We carry out works on behalf of insurers and other larger companies so we are knowledgeable and experienced in this area.
If you need an Electrician to carry out an electrical safety check for you then give us a call, perhaps you have had a safety check carried out before and just need a quote for any works that need to be carried out?
Whatever you need, be sure to pick up the phone:
