Electrical circuits are primarily made for the average amount of current allowed in your house. There’s even a rating that indicates how much current it can handle. Moreover, sometimes load can exceed, and it can cause an electric short in your house. Before giving you the critical guidelines on how to fix an electric short in a house, You have to understand some basics.
What is an Electric Short?
An electric short occurs when the wire with voltage (hot wire) touches another hot wire or, in most cases, a neutral wire. Therefore, electricity repels by itself or sparks towards the space, causing the electricity to be short.
How To Locate The Short In Your Line:
To fix the short in your line, first, you have to locate the exact location of the shorted wire. You can use your short circuit finder or circuit tracer transmitter to find the shorted lines, even if they are behind the wall or under the fittings. After locating the damage in your line, you need to turn off the primary breaker to fix it further.
How To Fix An Electric Short In A House Step By Step:
- Expose The Shorted Wire: First, you need to remove it off the breaker panel and pull it out. Put a flexible wire in the breaker so that you may quickly return it by pulling the flexible fire. Now check its damage. If the wire shows burn marks on its length, it’s better to replace it thoroughly with a new line. You should consider replacing it with a higher-gauge wire, according to the capacity of your breaker.
- Repair The Shorted Line: Once you have replaced the parts of the device. Now you have to repair the shorted line. You have to cut the damaged wire off using a wirecutter, then strip a section from both ends of the wire with a suitable size that fits your butt connector. Now cut a section of new wire. Connect the new wire to your existing cables using the connectors for strength. For extra protection, use heat-shrink tubing.
- Turn On The Breaker: Now that you have repaired the shorted line. Now return the wire and turn on the breaker by pulling the flexible wire attached at the breaker side. Now connect it to the circuit breaker. Once you do everything securely and correctly, you’re good to turn the primary circuit breaker.
- Important Guideline To Fix An Electric Short Securely: You learned that Electric Short Circuit is caused mainly by the wiring within the walls, and it requires professional attendance. And if your circuit is short, rewiring may be the solution. The short circuit lies within the device you’re using; you need to handle it with the proper skill. Suppose you have a device that has a short circuit. In that case, the best thing is to contact certified suppliers of quality replacement parts to continue the work on and replace parts of the device. Or the short will continue and may become a more serious issue.
