Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Residential Troubleshooting & 2017

Residential electrical troubleshooting takes years of experience to make it appear easy but there is nothing easy to any of the problems and issues that were discovered in 2016. 


The worst of the worst was an entire 2nd floor of a home that had over 40 openings (lights & outlets) on a single 120 volt 20 amp circurit breaker feeding 3 bedrooms, hall ways & stairway and an upstairs bathroom. The client's request was it worked once make it work again. No matter what type of  quick fix on these issues it will always be a accident waiting to happen as it is entirely unsafe and over loaded. Needless to say the breaker box was full of tandem style circuit breakers the type where you remove one circurit breaker and make it two with a tandem style circurit breaker. What people do not realize by doing this is that they are doubling up the Heat Factor on the buss bar on the same circurit breaker location. All this nightmare electrical wiring harness had worked fine for over 30 years and the client was steadfast that it should work again for another 30 years and that no upgrade was needed.


Another troubleshooting issue with a different client was a outside weatherproof box under the utility meter that had no Main Break protection. Even with all the circurit breakers in the OFF position the buss bar still had live electrical power. The only way to de energize the buss bar was to remove the utility meter from it's socket. If someone who did not have the knowledge or skills and was trying to perform a repair they could be seriously hurt or killed with this outdated electrical wiring.

One of the most interesting request came from a client that said that they had to touch the switch and outlet face plate to make the bathroom lights/outlet operate along with 2 other rooms with lights and outlets that were going off and on with this operation. They insisted that they wanted one of those new GFCI outlets installed by the bathroom sink when the problem was fixed. (Needless to say in in most new residential wiring the bathroom outlet is on a dedicated circuit breaker to supply electrical power to the hair dryers, curling irons and others devices that are all going at once)




2016 saw it's challenges and jigsaw puzzles of residential electrical issues and we look forward to 2017 along with many more older electrical issues with new and existing clients far and wide.

Our approach to 2017 as always is honesty, integrity and dependability. Quality craftsmanship and services that are safe and efficient with no short cuts is not forgotten here at D B Electric. Our approach is an onsite meeting to discover and troubleshoot whats going on and to gather the required information to prepare a Punch List of what's wrong and how to fix it with client approval. D B Electric has a one hour minimum along with mileage to your address for this service that is Invoiced by email for payment prior to arrival. Our TimeTrade scheduling links lets clients pick their own date and time that they want this onsite service performed. https://www.timetrade.com/book/5565L


The TimeTrade confirmation number is also the client's Invoice number for billing that can be completed by either PayPal or Square services for Invoicing and Payments.

Thank you for a great 2016 and looking forward to servicing your electrical needs in 2017





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