The holidays tend to put a lot of stress on a home’s electrical system. From lighting displays to extra kitchen use, your home’s electrical system may be suffering. Our team at Potts Electric in St. Louis, MO is here to talk about five common holiday electrical issues you may face during the holiday season.
1. Circuit Breakers Tripping
Many people unintentionally end up pushing their circuit breakers too far during the holidays. It is easy to plug in one more electric crockpot for food, but this can lead to a breaker trip. Many people use electric space heaters for supplemental heating in the winter, overloading circuits. Too many strands of holiday lights can even trip a breaker.
The first step you should take is to see if lessening the load addresses the issue. Remove what you think might be the offending item from the circuit and then reset the breaker. If the system functions normally, then you might have been dealing with an overloaded circuit.
You can often plug items into outlets on a different circuit to resolve the issue. If you’re running out of circuits, though, you may need to consider adding additional circuits. In some cases, it may be necessary to extend your system or install a new electrical panel. Our electricians can help you devise better ways to handle the holiday electrical load.
One thing to watch for is whether the circuit breaker immediately trips when you plug things back in. This could be a sign of damaged wiring in your home. This poses a fire risk. You should shut the circuit off entirely and give us a call for assistance. We can check the breaker, wiring, and outlets to determine what’s going on.
2. Flickering or Dimming Lights
Frequently, lights dimming or flickering is the result of a single loose connection. The solution could be as simple as making sure a plug or socket is seated tightly. If you can’t get the connection to sit tightly with close to no effort, there could be a problem with the outlet or socket. We can quickly replace your damaged outlets.
If the plug or socket seats tightly but the flickering continues, there could be a problem inside the outlet or even with the wiring. We can check the outlet and test the wiring to see what might be going on.
If you’re seeing several lights in different locations flickering or dimming, this can be a sign of an overload. When the issue seems isolated to one part of the house, it usually involves a single overloaded circuit. Once more, plugging things into a different circuit often alleviates the problem.
There is a small chance your home’s entire electrical system is overloaded. If the lights dim when something big cycles, such as the heater or the refrigerator, then the electrical panel might not have enough capacity. Circuit or panel upgrades can typically address the problem.
Limited capacity is a more common problem in older houses. Many older homes have electrical systems that provide 100 amps or less capacity. Our recommendation for a modern house is a total capacity of 200 amps. This is enough to power multiple high-draw systems like an electric oven, a dryer, and an EV charger concurrently. It also leaves enough spare capacity for everything from appliances to holiday lights.
3. GFCI Outlet Trips
Outdoor holiday lights benefit from the use of ground-fault circuit interrupters (GFCIs) as safety systems. One of the big fears of plugging anything into an outdoor outlet is that water can encounter devices or wiring, leading to a potential shock hazard. This can injure people or damage your home’s electrical system. A GFCI detects a change in the electrical flow and trips a small breaker in the outlet.
GFCI outlets can trip for a lot of reasons, though. Older outlets may collect condensation inside them, causing the GFCI to trip. Also, homeowners sometimes plug in holiday decorations that aren’t rated for outdoor use. This leads to water getting into the components and tripping the GFCI. Even simple aging issues like internal corrosion can cause the GFCI outlet to trip.
Unplug all devices from the offending GFCI and reset it. If the outlet trips on a wet or snowy day without anything plugged in, there is a good chance that moisture buildup is causing the problem. The solution is usually to make sure the outlet is properly waterproofed.
If the GFCI outlet is older than 10 years and is experiencing problems, you should have one of our electricians replace it. Many home buyers ask us to replace all the GFCI outlets in older homes just to be on the safe side.
4. Warm or Discolored Outlets
An electrical issue might not be enough to trip a key safety system. This often leads to heat buildup, especially with outlets. Excess electricity often leaves the system in the form of wasted heat. This wasted heat can discolor the plastic around an electrical outlet.
Notably, discoloration also occurs on older outlets that have a lot of UV light exposure. However, the discoloration should be relatively uniform if UV exposure is the culprit. Also, it should be a light brown color.
Heat from electrical issues tends to leave brown or even black marks on the plastic. Also, the discoloration is usually isolated to the area where the electrical problem is.
Your best option is to turn off the circuit at the breaker. Unplug everything connected to the damaged outlet. Contact us so one of our electricians can inspect the outlet.
5. Encountering Electrical Shocks
A modern electrical device should never shock you, even if your hand is close to the outlet. If you experience even a light shock, this is a bad sign. The issue could just be the device itself. For example, a faulty power tool might shock you while you’re setting up a holiday display.
However, a shock can also be a sign of a wiring or grounding problem. Shocks occur because electricity is trying to find a return path and cannot. Consequently, the electricity goes through devices, wiring, or even people.
Note whether the shock involved a two- or three-prong outlet. If the outlet has two prongs, make sure the device plugged into it doesn’t require grounding. If there is a three-prong outlet present and the plugged-in device has a ground prong, then there could be an issue with the grounding line.
Many hardware stores sell outlet testers. Test to verify the health of both two electrical prongs and the prong for the ground line. If the test indicates anything is wrong with the outlet, turn off the circuit and contact us.
Potts Electric puts decades of electrical services experience to work for our customers. We welcome residential and commercial projects from people in St. Louis and the surrounding areas. From installations and upgrades to repairs and maintenance, our electricians take pride in doing high-quality work every time. We bring honesty, integrity, and efficiency to each job. If you’re trying to make sense of a holiday electrical issue at your St. Louis home, call Potts Electric today.
