Every electrical gadget and installation in the home comes with an expected lifespan. While some serve longer than their lifespan, others don’t meet up, primarily due to negligence on the part of the owners.
Electrical installation and equipment are more prone to damage when not inspected. This is because severe electrical damage usually starts from simple damaged components that degenerate when not taken care of.
Hence, it is important to follow up with the conditions of your electrical system through a routine test, which is where a periodic residential electrical inspection comes in.
While a periodic electrical inspection helps detect early faults in an installation to prevent hazards, it also helps the installation reach its expected lifespan.
Here is a detailed guide on what to know about periodic electrical inspection:
What Is Periodic Electrical Inspection?
Periodic electrical inspection, also known as periodic electrical testing or periodic electrical report, is a routine electrical checkup carried out by a certified electrician to detect faulty components in an electrical installation. The electrician looks for corroded parts, missing parts, flickering lights, tripping breakers, faulty wires, and overheating thermostats, among other faults.
Why Is Periodic Inspection Necessary In Residential Electrical Installation?
Carrying out a routine check on a home’s electrical installation and appliances is important for different reasons:
- It prevents fire and heat damage to the home by detecting wiring defects in the system
- It aids occupant’s safety by preventing electric shocks
- It ensures the home follows standard wiring regulations
- Routine electrical inspection ensures no component is faulty, such that there is no corroded or damaged wiring
What an Electrician Look For During a Periodic Residential Electrical Inspection
The duties of an electrical during a routine electrical checkup in your home include looking for:
- Faulty components
- Overloaded circuits in the installation
- Flickering lights and tripping breakers
- Potential causes of damage in the system
- Issues with the earthling and bonding in the home
- Issues with appliances, such as thermostat overheating
Why are Periodic Electrical Inspection and Testing Needed?
Different reasons warrant that you call on a professional electrician to inspect your electrical system and gadgets. The reasons you want to invest in a periodic residential electrical inspection include:
Hazard prevention: the most significant purpose of conducting a periodic residential electrical inspection is to prevent electrical hazards that can ensue from damaged electrical components.
Damage prevention: Severe damage in electrical systems usually starts with simple ones. Once simple damages are identified and rectified in a system, you can easily prevent severe ones.
Claiming insurance: insurance providers are interested in knowing if you are up to date with your electrical inspections. Most policies demand that you carry out routine electrical inspections on your home electrical installation and equipment with reports from a qualified electrician to claim compensation for damage to your property.
Change in ownership: periodic residential electrical inspection is also necessary when a property is transferred from one owner to another. The new owner wants to ensure the electrical installation in the property is working fine and per regulations.
During rental: since electrical hazards affect the property’s occupants, they want to ensure there are no issues with the electrical wiring of their new home. Hence, running a periodic electrical inspection is important if you have just rented an apartment.
Who Should Carry Out The Checkup?
Verifying what service the electrician offers is important to know if they are specified in residential electrical installation and inspection.
The electrician must have extensive experience doing the test. He must also be qualified with adequate certification to prove their competence. Plus, they must be good at using electrical instruments to conduct tests and make installations.
Classes of Electrical Inspection
Again, only an experienced, certified electrician can undertake periodic electrical inspections.
Here are the two classes of electrical inspection
Initial Verification
Initial verification is similar to periodic electrical inspection. However, while period electrical inspection deals with the status of an electrical installation a while after installation, initial verification is conducted immediately after the building and installation are completed.
Formal Inspections
Most regulations demand that periodic electrical inspections be conducted at a particular time interval, other things being equal. However, wear and tear can happen at any time, requiring an inspection. This is where a formal inspection comes in.
Unlike a periodic electrical inspection, a formal inspection doesn’t necessarily need to be conducted by an electrically trained person. Instead, regulations allow anyone with knowledge of electrical devices to carry out the inspection.
However, the person must be familiar with the risks of electrical hazards that electricity can cause and take necessary precautions.
Periodic Residential Electrical Inspection: How It Works
A periodic residential electrical inspection is classified into three steps:
Step 1: Inspection
Carrying out a periodic test on your home starts with the qualified electrician looking around the wires and testing the appliances for defects.
The electrician checks for missing parts, wear and tear, damaged parts and wires, and missing screws during this stage. Finding any of this means there is a potential issue with the installation.
This step also includes the electrician checking for signs of overheating and ensuring all enclosure doors are properly secure, plus ensuring proper labeling.
Step 2: Operation
This stage involves testing the operation of the electrical system. With this, the electrician switches the installation on and makes an inspection.
Step 3: Defect Report
The last phase of the inspection is the defect report stage, where the electrician reports issues noted about the installation. They will also include the repairs they have made to the installation. Again, the seriousness of the issues found will determine the report’s complexity.
The electrician involved will hand the report, known as the Electrical Inspection Condition Report (EICR), over to the property’s owner. The report will contain any failure with the electrical installation and anything that doesn’t comply with safety requirements.
Overall, the report will contain every aspect of the inspection, such as the state of the components and wires, possible causes of the issues, and solutions.
Where the test doesn’t meet the requirement, the engineer will label the report “unsatisfactory,” meaning the installation needs further repair. Such an installation means that occupants in the property are not safe. However, the report will indicate which area of the electrical system needs to be worked on.
The seriousness of the defects in the installation is given with codes carrying numbers. The issue’s severity decreases with the number, such that the lower the number, the more severe the issue.
Here are the codes in the electrical inspection condition report and what they mean:
- C1: this requires more immediate attention, as it can result in a hazard.
- C2: while this doesn’t mean immediate hazard, it carries the possibility of a serious hazard
- C3: though a report carrying this code still passes the test, it requires improvements.
If the test doesn’t find any defects in an electrical system or they have been repaired, the system is said to have passed the test, and an EICR Certificate of Safety is offered to the owner. This means the home is safe.
How Often To Carry Out Periodic Inspection?
There is no single answer to how often to conduct periodic electrical inspections. The time interval for conducting residential electrical inspections depends on a few factors, such as energy consumption in the home. A home with high electricity use requires more frequent inspection than a home with low electricity use.
While a home with low electricity use can schedule a periodic inspection once a year, an electrical inspection every 4 months might be ideal for low electricity use. This is because the more electricity is used in a home, the higher the risk of electric hazards in the home.
Other factors determining how frequently periodic residential electrical inspections should be conducted include the installation age and environment. For example, an old installation is more prone to damage than a new installation, requiring a higher inspection frequency. Also, an installation close to a water body is more prone to defects.
However, the installation designer should specify the inspection frequency and, more importantly, the time for the first inspection, which helps determine the frequency of subsequent inspections.
Also, reports from previous inspections contribute to how frequently to inspect an installation. For example, where previous inspections found imperfections with the installation, there is a need to increase inspection frequency.
For example, when an electrical system is found not to meet the requirements of the environment or where there is inadequate maintenance of the system, it is usually wise to check on the system more frequently.
However, where there is no initial report for the installation, the number of inspections should also increase.
Here are common circumstances surrounding a residential electrical system and how often it should be inspected:
- Owner-occupied home: ten years
- Rented home: five years
- Water-prone home: three or four months
Common Electrical Hazards in Homes with Inadequate Test
Again, periodic residential electrical tests are to find potential causes of damage in an electrical system, reducing the risk of further damage and ultimately preventing hazards. However, when the test is not conducted properly, it might not significantly reduce the risk of electrical hazards.
Here are a few electrical hazards associated with inadequate testing:
Overloaded circuits and error in wire size: failure to use the right wire size leads to improper current fluctuations. Hazards are more serious in systems with smaller wire sizes, resulting in overheating, such as thermostat overheating.
Inadequate grounding: grounding is important in an electrical system, ensuring that extra voltage is neutralized. A system with inadequate grounding can cause electrocution.
Loose insulation: during a periodic test, it is important to check for every exposed electrical part and ensure well-insulated components. Non-insulated wires are a potential cause of electrical shocks to anyone who comes around them.
Damaged insulation: during an electrical check, the electrician switches off the system and fixes the issue once they notice inadequate insulation. Failure to recognize this can result in a potential cause of shocks in the system. When this is discovered during a formal inspection, it is best to call on a professional to handle the issue. Though you might be tempted to cover them with electrical tape, this won’t still solve the issue.
Wet conditions: wet areas are prone to electrocution, as water is a good electricity conductor. Hence, a competent electrician looks out for damages due to water penetration around the system. Failure to discover this can also lead to shocks.
Minimizing Electrical Hazards
The major purpose of a periodic electrical inspection in a home is to prevent electrical hazards. Unfortunately, many lives are lost, and thousands of injuries are recorded due to electrical hazards.
The truth is, the world cannot do without electricity. Hence, don’t throw away caution when dealing with electricity and appliances. The way we handle our appliances counts, and if properly handled and maintained, we can reduce the risk of electrical hazards in our homes.
The tip is to call on an electrical engineer once a faulty is noticed in an electrical system or with an appliance. The system should be switched off, and the appliance should be set aside until an electrician resolves the issue.
Conclusion
A periodic residential electrical inspection is important in every home, as it helps fix out potential causes of damage in the electrical system, ultimately preventing electrical hazards in the home.
However, it is worth mentioning that the electrician you choose for your electrical inspection counts in the effectiveness of the inspection. A qualified electrician knows what to check for in an installation and resolves them.
Hence, you want to trust your home’s periodic electrical inspection in the hands of a competent electrician.