Four Ways in Which Old Wiring in Your Building Could Be a Fire Hazard

October 25, 2017 Published by Leave your thoughts

Almost no one thinks about all the invisible things that must go right every day for us to go about our lives. Electricity, air, heat, your combustion engine—you probably never really think about how any of it works until it stops working. And this is a luxury that we are afforded because all of these things work so well in general.

We human beings are actually pretty good at designing things that improve the quality of our lives. But these things, like anything else, need regular maintenance to stand the test of time. And because they’re the types of things that we don’t think about, they often do not get the amount of maintenance that they require. This poses a unique risk, especially when it comes to wiring in old buildings.

Knob and tube wiring

Old buildings often used knob and tube wiring, which uses single insulated copper wire and porcelain knobs securing it within the walls. Knob and tube wiring is perfectly safe until it begins to fray, which often happens over time, because for some reason rodents like to chew on wiring and always have. Once the structural integrity of the wiring has been broken, it becomes an extreme fire hazard.

Old wires and incomplete wiring fixes

Even if you don’t have knob and tube wiring, the chances are good that the wiring itself is very old, and the insulation is old as well. It also means that there is a higher risk that, somewhere in the building, there’s wire that has been modified by someone who wasn’t certified as a commercial electrician in Nampa, ID. Rules today for doing wiring work are much stricter than they used to be to protect the consumer, which means that a lot of historical buildings have faulty wiring that were put in as quick fixes by non-experts, and it’s been forgotten about. It’s often these types of unseen dangers that cause fires in industrial and commercial buildings.

Faulty breaker

Similarly, if your breaker hasn’t been upgraded recently, it could be faulty and could increase the risk of fire in your older building. If your breaker isn’t working, then your electrical system doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to, and you’re more susceptible to surges, which can cause damage or even fires.

Poorly designed system

Similar to the poorly done fixes we mentioned earlier, older buildings had to meet less stringent codes in the past. Truthfully, many older buildings, if they were built today, would not pass code inspection. If you have an older building or you are just taking ownership of an older building whose history you don’t know much about, it’s probably good to have a commercial electrician in Nampa, ID inspect your wiring to make sure that it doesn’t pose any major fire risk. Again, issues could be completely invisible to you until you actually have a fire or problem, so it’s just good as a matter of course to check before moving in or moving tenants into any old commercial building.

Keys Energy Services, Inc. is well known throughout Idaho for providing some of the highest quality electrical repair and maintenance in the area. If you’ve got an old building, give us a call. We can inspect the wiring for you to ensure you don’t have an invisible fire hazard on your hands, and can easily fix any issue we find, ensuring that you, your property and everyone who relies on it every day are totally safe. That type of peace of mind is priceless.

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