Faulty Wiring

Faulty wiring in your home is a danger to you and those using the electrical system. Your consumer unit or electrical panel may trip to let you know there are problems but in many cases faulty wiring will NOT cause a switch to trip. Some faulty wiring issues can lay hidden until secondary faults develop making the situation much more dangerous. 

The photograph shows a socket that we found whilst we were undertaking some fault finding on some suspected faulty wiring. The socket did not sit properly against the wall which aroused some suspicion and led us to investigate further.

1) What types of faulty wiring are there?

There are many different kinds of faulty wiring that can exist in an electrical system. Varying levels of danger can be introduced by different faults. There are many more wiring faults that can exist but these are the most common:

• Tripping Switches
• Undersized Cables
• Overheating Electrics
• Burning Smells
• Breaks in Circuits
• Problems with Earthing

1.1) Tripping Switches

When switches in the consumer unit or electrical panel begin to trip it is highly likely that there are problems with the electrical wiring, appliances, or accessories (plug sockets and wall switches) in your home. Clients commonly mistake a tripping switch for a faulty switch when in most cases, the switch itself is not to blame. 

1.2) Undersized Cables 

If an electrical circuit has been poorly designed or installed using cables that are inadequately sized for the electrical demands then this could potentially be dangerous. Where a circuit breaker is incorrectly rated for the cable size then the cables could catch fire before the circuit breaker ever turned the circuit off! 

Electrical cables come in a variety of thicknesses and types and each one has a maximum safe current rating that it is able to carry without overheating. This current rating can also be affected by the way in which the cable is installed with various factors lowering the safe current rating. 

Cables should be carefully selected by an electrician during the design process to match not only the system demands but installation conditions and anticipated future demand. 

1.3) Overheating Electrics

Electrical wiring and other equipment can overheat when problems develop. Such overheating can often be caused by the high resistances found during loose connections. A high resistance to electrical current flow will quickly cause overheating and melting of electrical cabling, consumer unit components and electrical accessories. 

Overheating can also occur when electrical accessories are incorrectly installed for their purpose. Such circumstances include Electrical Heating Elements for Water Tanks. Immersion elements are occasionally incorrectly installed on a 13 amp Fused Spur Switch. 

This type of overheating occurs because the fuse in the switch becomes very hot during the long periods that the element is turned on for whilst it is heating the water. The heat from this quickly causes problems which are magnified the longer the electrical supply is turned on for. 

1.4) Burning Smells

Electrical burning is unmistakable once it has been experienced once. The melting smell of plastics and PVC is very pungent and gives off a fishy, chemical odour. This odour remains for month or years on the affected equipment and is a clear warning sign that there are severe problems with your electrics. 

If you think that there is electrical burning in your electrical system then DO NOT DELAY, have the system checked out by an electrician immediately before it develops into something far more serious!

Burning smells can appear almost anywhere as fumes travel throughout the building, through cavities and from room to room. Consumer units, electrical panels, socket outlets and high-powered electrical equipment are often more susceptible to electrical burning than lower powered circuits such as home alarm systems and lighting. 

1.5) Breaks in Circuits

A break in an electrical circuit is commonly a form of FAULTY WIRING. You would think that if an electrical circuit was broken that there would be a sign of this such as socket outlets not working? 

In the UK in many properties, there are socket outlets circuits that are wired in such a way that there can be a break on the circuit yet it will still continue to function apparently normally. Nothing will trip at the consumer unit / electrical panel and there will likely be absolutely no symptom of the break. 

Where is the danger? 

The circuit can become dangerously overloaded without sufficient overload protection once it is broken! This is why regular electrical inspections are so important. 

There can also be a break in the earth on any circuit and there will likely be no signs of this. The danger comes when a secondary electrical fault develops and there is no safety path to earth. Under these circumstances, electric shock is a real risk and again, there would have been no signs without an electrical inspection. 

2) Problems with Earthing

Problems with earthing can range from inadequate earthing to circuits and metal pipework, breaks in the earth, loose earths, and completely missing earths. 

2.1) What is earthing?

Earthing is a vital part of any electrical system. It is what prevents electric shock when things go wrong. Without earthing there would be absolute mayhem. The trouble with earthing is, we would never know there was a problem with it UNLESS electric shock risk presented itself and then, it’s too late! 

The only way to ascertain if there are EARTHING PROBLEMS in the wiring system is to have a Professional Electrician come and check the electrical system out for you.

3) How is faulty wiring found and diagnosed?

Faulty wiring can occur at any time and for various reasons. Electricians can quickly find the affected circuit and the type of fault that they are dealing with. They then act to start breaking the circuit down to pinpoint the faulty wiring better. This involves removing the electrical accessories from the wall and ceilings to inspect and test the circuit with their test equipment. 

4) Tell me more about the main photograph?

The photograph shows that the cooker circuit fed this double plug socket and another next to it. The circuit then changed into a different type of circuit and powered a further three sockets in the kitchen. 

The wiring on the circuit differed in age along its length. In the photograph we can see that there is black and red wiring which has been extended with a piece of brown wiring. The issue we have is that the cable is very thick and has also been extended in the back of the socket. This means that there is not very much room for the inner workings of the socket and the thick cabling to sit correctly. 

The wiring had been getting crushed. There was damage to the neutral wire in the back of the enclosure, the insulation around the neutral had split showing bare copper (live parts). 

At the consumer unit where we checked for faulty wiring, we found that the beginning of the circuit had old rubberised cable from approximately 1950-1960 indicating the age of some of the circuit. 

The remaining wiring in the property was also several decades old. The cable then was jointed somewhere underneath the floor and at the time of our visit was not accessible. We managed to trace all socket outlets that were fed by the circuit and the fault appeared to lead back to the consumer unit. It was clearly an old cooker circuit that had been repurposed into a kitchen sockets circuit.

5) Can I find Electrical Faults Myself? 

Faulty wiring can be very dangerous and should only be investigated by a professional. Most electricians are trained to recognise electrical dangers when carrying out relevant testing and inspection works and can advise on any remedial action needed after their investigations are complete. 

If you are experiencing any electrical issues or have discovered some Faulty Wiring get in touch with us today. We are you local, experienced fault finding electrician in Liverpool.