When you come across issues with electrical in your home, it can cause a huge risk to the safety of your home and the people inside it. Matter of fact, electrical fires are one of the most common causes for house fires within Canada.
This is especially true with older homes, as their electricity is often years outdated, increasing the risk and making it more difficult to solve if there’s an issue. Here at SiteTech Electrical, we will always recommend that you hire a licensed electrician to solve any wiring issues in your home, but if you’re interested in learning more about your home’s wiring for your own sake, our team can help with the information below.
Different Wire Colour Types
Each and every wire within your home has a purpose, and in many cases these wires are colour coded to signify their purposes and differences. Some of the colours and their roles to distribute power in your home include:
- Black Wires: Also defined as “hot wires”, these wires carry the electrical load from your panels to outlets/destinations within the home.
- Bare Copper Wires: An extremely common type of grounding wire.
- Blue & Yellow Wires: In certain situations, these are used as hot wires. The blue ones will often be attached to switches on the top and the bottom of a staircase in order to control one light.
- Red Wires: These wires are most commonly used for devices such as smoke detectors, as they connect every detector within the home so the alarms can all go off at once.
- Green Wires: Having quite an important role, these wires connect the grounding terminal in an outlet box to a ground bus bar to ensure that the current can escape to the ground if a live wire touches metal or any other type of conductor. These wires are essential to electrical safety, and can increase the risk of a fire if not connected properly. Green wires can only ever be connected to other green wires.
Who Can Perform an Electrical Installation?
According to Canada’s official electrical code, the owner of a single family home can do the electrical installation, but it is highly advised against as the risk for hazards can be much higher without the right knowledge. Without extensive research and training, it can be one simple mistake that puts your home at serious risk of a fire. When you want to be one hundred percent certain that your electrical is installed in the best way possible, you will want to hire a licensed, fully trained electrician with years of experience to ensure the best in safety as well as quality.
Some Important Points To Remember
When you want to be aware of some important precautionary measures when it comes to your homes wiring, here’s what we recommend:
- There should be no run-overs or tensions within the wiring system.
- Cables should never be bent beyond their recommended capabilities at any time.
- Be certain that no fire/heating elements come into contact with your wires & cables.
- Never compromise the durability of your wires. This means avoiding putting them near objects that could crush/compromise your wires.
- Once the cable is installed, do not knot it or twist it any further.
- When your electrical system is complex and involves a more unique type of installation, always be sure to hire an electrical contractor.
Let Our Electrical Team Help
For years, our team at SiteTech Electrical has offered clients only the best in professional and safe electrical services. Time and time again, we make sure that your home is provided with the best electrical power possible, so you can go about your day in your home with the utmost quality and efficiency. To learn more about our residential electrical services in Richmond Hill, be sure to call our staff at (647) 939-3239 today! We look forward to hearing from you.
