Understanding how Faulty Electrical Wiring could Cause Your Bill to Rise

Understanding how Faulty Electrical Wiring can Cause Your Bill to Rise

August 31, 2017

How could faulty electrical wiring affect your bill?

Maintaining good electrical wiring is important in keeping your electric bill low.
Faulty electrical wiring can cause your electricity to leak out.
They cause you to use more energy on top of what you are already consuming.

Do you find yourself looking at your electric bill, which has become unjustly high, and you aren’t sure how this exactly happened? Then, perhaps it’s time to bust out your electrical tools and equipment and go searching for faulty wires.

Faulty wiring is one of the reasons why your bill could be increasing. It may be causing your electricity to leak unintentionally. This is why it is vital for you to maintain the electrical components of your house; this would include the fixtures, outlets, and wiring in and around your abode.

What is the importance of electrical wiring?

While there are many obvious reasons why electricity is important to homes, there are still many people that undervalue it, which explains why they have poor electrical wiring. Unfortunately, this can potentially harm their lives, as faulty wiring is one of the top causes of house fires. If you are not practicing proper maintenance of your wirings, then you better start now!

Regrettably, even good electrical wiring can turn bad, especially if they have experienced some wear and tear. But thankfully, you could prevent mishaps from happening by watching out for the following:

Overloaded circuits, which may trigger the circuit breaker too often.
Poor connectors that can cut off power.
Frayed wires that can start a fire.

When these problems arise, you should consult with a professional. Using DIY methods to resolve these issues may cause you more harm than good.

What electrical items are often being used at home?

Ever wonder which electrical items are mostly being used in your home? According to research, your electricity consumption is often filled with appliances specifically for entertainment purposes. A close second would be the lighting and the water heating system people rely heavily on to get things done in and around their homes. The last would be the items being used for cooking, washing, and refrigerating.

This data is true for almost all households. The biggest difference from each home would be in the usage of the air conditioner, which is obviously used more in hotter areas.

How electrical consumption works?

Now that you understand what electronics people use up the most, you must also understand that what is being used most often is not necessarily the highest electricity consumer. There are gadgets and appliances that one can use very rarely, but consumes a lot of juice when powered on.

Based on a study in 2010 that showed the average electricity usage of the common American household, these are the items that consumed power from most to least:

Air conditioning
Gadgets and appliances
Lighting
Water heating
Refrigeration
Television
Space heating
Clothes dryers
Furnaces
Cooking
Dishwashers
Freezers
Washing machine

By knowing what consumes the most electricity, actions can be taken to save funds by reducing the usage of the most consuming products. Based on the list above, limiting the use of air-conditioning can affect the monthly and yearly usage of power greatly.

But not all measures have to be limiting. For lighting, low energy bulbs can be used to allow homes to be well lit, while maintaining the cost to a minimum. However, there is another great way to save up on electricity, and that is by making sure that the home’s electrical wiring isn’t faulty.

How faulty wiring affects your monthly bill?

It’s simple really: problematic wires cause electricity leakage. This means that power is flowing towards your house, but it isn’t making it to your electronics. Of course, this doesn’t mean that your utilities won’t work; it just indicates that you are consuming more electricity than what you necessarily need.

Additionally, damaged wires can cause your appliances to heat up, influencing your bill to go up even higher.

What prone sectors should you checked for faulty wiring?

To reduce this unjust jump in your electricity bill, you must be able to have a professional look at your wiring to find out if anything needs to be fixed. To help you out, here are a few common places where wire damage is often seen:

The Water Pump: Wiring in a water pump can become damaged, when it comes in contact with a metal pipe.
Attic or any Crawl Space: Rats love to stay in attics and they love to gnaw on wires. Given that your attic is probably one of the least visited places in your home, it’s not hard to see why you would miss out on seeing a frayed wire in this place.
HVAC System: When a thermostat isn’t wired correctly, both the heating and cooling systems can function at the same time. Since they are both battling for their desired temperatures, this may go unnoticed since the heat could stay the same in the room.

Key Takeaway

Be very wary of faulty wiring in and around your homes for this could not only cause your bill to go up, but could also potentially start a fire. Be sure to check every nook and cranny in your house, where your wires are being kept. This will ensure that you and your family stay safe and be cost efficient at the same time.