Ask an Electrician: Five Common Electrical System Questions Homeowners Have

There’s no such thing as a dumb question when it comes to your home’s electrical system.

After all, your electrical system is one of the most important — and potentially dangerous — systems in your entire house, so it simply makes good sense to be cautious and search for the answers to any questions you may have.

But unfortunately, it can be tricky to find reliable answers, and misinformation is rampant. And given the potential risks involved with electrical issues, it is critical that you consult only trustworthy sources ­— like the licensed electricians at Knightly Electrical Services!

We’ve rounded up five of the most common electrical questions we hear from our customers and answered them below. Check ‘em out!

1. Why do my circuit breakers keep tripping?

This is an exceedingly common question that we hear from customers all the time. In fact, we’ve written about tripping AC breakers at length before. But we’ll break down the basics here.

Circuit breakers are incorporated into your electric panel to provide additional safety. When they sense that something is not quite right, they shut down the circuit to hopefully prevent damage to your circuits or appliances, as well as reduce the chance of house fires starting.

There are a variety of things that can make your breakers trip, including overloaded circuits, short circuits, and ground faults. Overloaded circuits occur when you plug too many devices into one circuit, while short circuits happen when wires contact things they shouldn’t. Ground faults are somewhat similar, but they essentially involve electricity “leaking” from a circuit, often to ground (hence their name).

Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of things homeowners can do to address these issues. You can try to unplug some of the devices plugged into a given circuit if you think that’s causing the issue. Then, you can reset the breaker to see if it works properly.

If this doesn’t work, you’ll want to reach out to a licensed electrician for an inspection immediately.

2. Why do some outlets have buttons on them?

You’ve surely seen outlets in your home that feature small buttons (often labelled “test” and “reset”). But what do those buttons do, exactly? And why are they included in some outlets?

The outlets featuring these buttons are called ground fault circuit interrupters (or GFCIs for short). These outlets work somewhat similarly to circuit breakers, as they’re designed to interrupt the circuit if a ground fault is detected. They do this by measuring the amount of electricity flowing from the circuit and into the devices connected to the outlet and then comparing this to the amount of electricity returning into the circuit.   

If the circuit and devices are working as they should, the electricity flowing out and flowing back in should be exactly the same. But if less electricity is returning to the outlet, it means the electricity is “leaking.” When this is detected, the circuit breaks, which helps to prevent electrical shocks.

The buttons in GFCI do exactly what you’d think: The “test” button trips the breaker so that you can ensure it’s working properly, and the “reset” button resets the circuit after it has been tripped. If the outlet repeatedly trips, or the reset button fails to restore power, you’ll want to contact a licensed electrician immediately.

GFCIs are often used in places where moisture or water could come into contact with the devices connected to them. In fact, they’re required in places like bathrooms, kitchens, and garages.  

3. What’s the difference between a surge protector and a circuit breaker?

You can see a whole-home surge protector that Ryan just installed on the left of this home's electrical panel.

Surge protectors and circuit breakers do somewhat similar things, which often leads to confusion among homeowners. In fact, many people (incorrectly) use the terms interchangeably.

In a nutshell, circuit breakers protect your home’s wiring from too much current — like from an overloaded outlet or a short circuit. On the other hand, surge protectors guard the devices in your home from sudden spikes in voltage, like those caused by lightning strikes or power grid issues.

Breakers protect the wiring in your home; surge protectors protect the electronics plugged into them.

Circuit breakers are built into the electrical panel of every home (that’s part of the reason some people call electrical panels breaker boxes). But surge protectors aren’t standard equipment.

Many people use power strip-style surge protectors to protect individual devices in their home (be aware that not all power strips are also surge protectors).

But because this won’t protect things like your refrigerator, oven, or dryer, it’s wiser to have a whole-home surge protector installed by a licensed electrician. This will help protect everything in your entire house, should you experience a voltage spike.

4. How often should I have my home’s electrical system inspected?

Obviously, you should have a licensed electrician diagnose and repair any electrical issues you notice in your house. But this will only help with problems that are already causing symptoms — it doesn’t help with problems that are lying silently under the surface.

That’s scary, because many of these hidden problems can present shock or fire hazards.

So, it’s a good idea to have a licensed electrician inspect your home’s entire electrical system from time to time. The specific timing of this will vary, but it’s always a good idea to have relatively new homes inspected once every 10 years.

However, if your home is on the older side and was built 30 or 40 years ago, you should have it inspected more often, as older homes tend to have more electrical issues. In these cases, you’ll want to have your home inspected once every five years.

It’s also a good idea to have a home inspected before you purchase it, as well as after any major renovations or additions.

5. Can I plug a space heater or window AC into any outlet?

This may be a common question, but we’d actually love to see it asked more often. That’s because a lot of homeowners plug window AC units right into normal house outlets. This may work (for a while), but it isn’t a safe practice.

AC units draw a lot of power — often more than a standard outlet can handle (especially in older homes). In a best-case scenario, it’ll only result in a tripped breaker. But in a worst-case scenario, it may lead to melted wires or even house fires.

Given these dangers, it is better to plug window AC units, electric heaters, and other large, power-thirsty appliances into dedicated circuits. This helps to prevent overloaded circuits and keep your home safe.

If you currently have a window unit plugged into a standard outlet, you’ll want to be on the lookout for things like dimming or flickering lights, as well as burning odors. You may even notice that the outlet itself feels warm.

If you notice any of these signs, unplug the AC and contact Knightly Electrical Services at once.

Have Questions About Your Home’s Electrical System?

We hope you’ve found some of these questions and answers enlightening, or at the very least, interesting. Just remember that it’s always important to stick to reliable sources when trying to research electrical questions and never hesitate to contact a licensed electrician if you notice a problem in your home.  

We’d be happy to visit your home, diagnose the problem, and outline the repair options available to you. Contact us today and see why your friends and neighbors have made Knightly Electrical Services their preferred choice for electrical repairs, upgrades, and installations in the entire Alpharetta area.