At 3:30 in the morning of my next to last night on my very first mission trip to Brazil, my wife called to tell me that our house was flooding from Tropical Storm Allison (June 2001). We were the “lucky ones” and had the highest water level of all the houses in our cul-de-sac. I returned home two days later and found 35 houses in our neighborhood had flooded. My house was already gutted by a group of friends and had put our furniture in storage. The fun of rebuilding had begun!
That same month, our oldest son who had just graduated from high school had his 3-day Freshman Orientation at Texas A&M – whoop! I went with him and stayed in the dorm for those three days – it was a blast. And while I was there, my wife called me again with more news. To add insult to injury, the house directly across the street from us had a major fire due to an electrical panel fire. When I returned home, our friend’s garage was totally burned to the ground. And due to there being no fire block built in the breezeway between the garage and the house, the entire house had major smoke damage – a flood and a fire in a matter of two weeks.
What was the cause of the fire? The electrical service panel had a short and caused a fire! The next door neighbor went outside to open the garage door, but the garage door opener was inoperable due to the electrical service being out. About that time, aerosol cans in the garage started exploding like small bombs and other used paint cans and flammable items caused the garage to go up in flames quickly!
Have you had your electrical service panel (the “breaker box”) checked lately? Wires get hot with the flow of electricity and cool when the load decreases. Screws get loose and can cause shorts and arcs. Breakers go bad. The electrical current needs of today with all the equipment in our homes is greater than our needs of yesteryear.
Your home’s electrical system functions like your body. Circuits and wires carry electricity / power throughout your home like the arteries carry blood throughout your body. The electricity keeps everything “alive” in your home, just as the blood in your body keeps you alive.
The electrical panel is the heart of your electrical system, and it needs to be maintained with a regular check-up. Panels can develop problems just sitting there with no maintenance. If you haven’t had your breaker box looked at in a few years, I would recommend it. If you’re not comfortable doing it yourself, then have the wires, breakers, and connections checked by a licensed electrician.
If you’re in an older home, the breaker box you have may not be sufficient for the current (pun intended) needs of today. There are a couple of brands of panels in older homes that have major manufacturing and design flaws that put homeowners at risk and should be replaced.
For your peace of mind, get a check-up on your electrical service panel! And have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving and Christmas season!
Lee Rushing is a licensed Professional Inspector (TREC #21601) with ProVantage Inspections in Willis. He can be reached at www.provantageinspections.com.
