All You Need To Know Regarding Electrical Short Circuits

Even though the total number of deaths and injuries associated with exposure to electricity have significantly decreased in the last few decades, electricity still remains a useful but dangerous resource. Thanks to technological advancements, electrical fatalities as well as the related injuries are now relatively infrequent. However, homeowners are urged to always take the appropriate measures when dealing with an electrical repair. Whether you are dealing with fitting or appliance repair problem, it is highly advisable that you only seek the help of a highly qualified and experienced electrician.

While these electrical-related injuries and deaths are a strong reminder to refrain from Do-It-Yourself projects, they equally highlight the need for homeowners to install safety switches on every circuit of every house. These fatalities are by no means isolated accidents; there are at least fifteen deaths as well as three hundred injuries in electrical incidents in Australia annually, which could potentially be prevented through the installation of safety switches.

As a homeowner, you will occasionally experience a whole host of electrical repair issues including sags and dips in power, frequent and recurrent power surges, damaged light switches, electric shocks, hiked electrical bills and short circuits. In this post, we’ll mainly concentrate on short circuits. Read on and enhance your understanding.

A short circuit is a general term used to describe all abnormal connections which permit additional power to run through your switch, outlet or an appliance. This extra heat produced as a result of the bump in electricity can result in fires, especially if the affected cables come in contact with your home’s flammable components. Broken and uncovered cables can equally cause short circuits thus exposing your family members to the dangers of a shock hazard.

It is highly recommended that you should insulate all the conductive equipment in your home to protect yourself against the potential dangers of shock circuits. What’s more, avoid bending your electrical wires too tightly. Lastly, you must not overload circuits with many power-consuming appliances.

What are the possible causes of short circuits?

There are a variety of problems that are known to cause short circuits. Let us discuss some of them.

• Loose connections: As we previously mentioned, a short circuit happens when part of an electrical cable carrying electrical energy comes in contact with another wire or part of the circuit thus giving electricity a way of relatively less resistance. For instance, if a poorly insulated electrical wire comes into contact with a metal power outlet, current will likely flow along that particular light switch thus resulting in a shock. For one reason or another, fittings will always become loose, a phenomenon that may allow live and neutral wires to come together.
• Damaged electrical devices: Old and perhaps faulty electrical appliances can experience electrical shorts. Short circuits in such devices usually occur in the plugs. Large and delicate appliances such as electric stoves should always be examined by a well-trained

electrician when they develop shorts.

• Pests: We’ve all heard cases where pests such as rats, and mice have invaded and chewed the insulating material in electrical cables. If you didn’t know, this can potentially result in live and neutral wires coming together thus causing an electrical short.
• Poor insulation: This is undoubtedly the primary cause of electrical shorts. Poor insulation allows your lie and neutral wires to come together.

It is imperative to note that you’ll always work with live electrical wires and this implies that this particular problem must only be handled by a highly-qualified electrician. Be sure to consult a pro if you believe there is an electrical short in your premises. There are usually some obvious signs to tell if you are having an electrical short in your home. Most importantly, electric shorts will make your circuit breaker to trip quite often. You should also inspect all your power cords and examine if the insulation material is melted or damaged. If this is the case then the chances are high that short circuit is within the appliance itself. It has been proven that replacing your faulty or damage appliance will always sole virtually all shorts associated with electrical devices.

Frank is working as a business consultant at Quick Spark. He is an expert in content writing, inbound marketing and lead generation.