House wiring is a complex beast for the uninitiated, and a sense of mystery for those who have never even seen a circuit. The wiring in your house does not need to be difficult to understand--in fact, in comparison to the wiring in commercial buildings, figuring out how the wiring in your home works is a breeze. Knowing the basics is essential to your safety, and reading up before opening up your wall to change out all the old wiring is incredibly important. Does this Spark an idea?
Electrical Code
Before doing any electrical work in the home, check your locality code on wiring. Locality codes give the basic rules and regulations on what is allowed to be fixed in the home on a do-it-yourself basis and what repairs need to be outsourced to a professional. These regulations are not in place to make the local electrician some money. They do, but they are also there to protect you from injury and harm. Before doing any wiring in your home, thoroughly study these codes and how big the project will be. In some areas, you need a permit to do wiring work, and the work will need to be checked by a city inspector when you're finished. If your work is not up to code, it will need to be done again. Otherwise, fines may be issued.
Service Entry
To begin wiring work in the home, you will need to find the service entry of your home. The service entry is where the electrical service provided to your home comes to, and where is connects to the main grid of your home. An electrical grid found in your home is a network that transfers the electricity from your provider into your home. Before doing any work on the home, you need to make sure the service entry is up to standard; otherwise, there could be large safety hazards. Make sure the service entry is at least 10 feet above ground and not accessible from any windows of the home. This is to prevent injury from touching exposed wire; it's more of a concern for children and pets, but it's a valid concern. Make sure the service entry is not in any danger of being obstructed by branches from trees or any other debris.
Panel Board and Branch Circuits
Before doing any wiring, locate the panel board, also called the circuit breaker, of the home. This is the control center for all electricity running throughout your home. Each room in your house is connected to a circuit in this panel and can be turned on and off. It is important, before starting any wiring, that you turn off the electricity in that area of the house from the panel. The areas of the home that the panel board controls are called branch circuits. Each branch comes from the panel board and is a series of separate wiring and circuits from other areas of the house. This allows you to turn off one area of the house, while allowing electricity to flow through the rest of the house.
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