Traditionally, to find which circuit breaker or fuse controls which lightswitch or wall outlet, you would plug a loud radio into an outlet and then go to the main panel and unscrew every fuse, or trip ever circuit breaker, until the radio went dead. And then there's yelling... 'Is that the one?'....
In this TV show I showed off two great electrical detective devices.The first is called an Inductive Voltage Detector and can be found at automobile supply stores. The one I showed had the trade name Circuit Alert and was made by GB Instruments. Somehow it knows if a wire is connected to the ho...
No. That was simple wasn't it?Actually the contrary is a bit the case -- electrical panels should never be blocked or made inaccessible.Olive from Calgary even showed us the beautiful use of Oak cabinets to hide the panel while leaving the panel still accessible. She even keeps all her important...
Thomas from London, Ontario writes: "We have an electric water heater. To conserve electricity, I turn the heater OFF at its circuit breaker at night before retiring and then ON when I return from work. This usually gives plenty of hot water while at home. Does this cause any premature "wear ...
I live in a basement suite and our lights and electrical outlets on one side of the suite blink and stutter a lot. We did have a flood thru the bathroom fan about 7 - 8 months ago and ever since that we have had the problem. The other thing we have noticed is when everything is blinking and s...
Overload protection
Fuses and circuit breakers will stop the electricity in a wire when the load is excessive or there is a short circuit. They prevent overheating of wires from too much electricity trying to flow through a wire that is not large enough to handle it.
Stray current protection
G...
In some ways, the old fashioned fuse is actually better than the circuit breakers. To make sure I got my facts right on this one I visited George Brown College in Toronto to talk to one of the instructors in the electrician's apprentice programs.
Fuses are 100 % reliable. When they get hot, the...
People ask me for professional recommendations and I shy away from doing too much of that. But the company Electrika is worth a special mention. First they are competent at doing things right. Second they are great at trouble shooting and figuring out problems. You will be won over by thei...
If for any reason you have turned OFF the main breaker of your household electrical system, do not simply turn it back ON. In fact in many cases it will simply not turn back on, especially if you have baseboard heaters all on all over the house. Powering the main breaker while all the circui...
Rick writes: I HAVE BEEN TO YOUR WEB SITE BUT STILL HAVE SOME QUESTIONS ON THIS TOPIC. HERE GOES: FIRST, IF THE OVERHEATING OCCURS, WHY DOESN'T THE CIRCUIT TRIP? AN ELECTRICIAN TOLD ME THAT IF I HAD A SWITCH PANEL VERSUS FUSES, THAT THIS WOULD PROTECT ME!
Both fuses and circuit breakers (neither...
