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Emergency Electrician vs. Doing It Yourself

ElectriciansAlmost every one of us has had to deal with an electrical emergency at least once in our lives. While some people clearly deal with these emergencies more than others, case in point being emergency electricians, is it really a good idea to handle the situation without having to call for help? What kind of situations are safe enough for a DIY emergency electrician to handle and what are the dangers of not calling a professional. We look at various common electrical failure scenarios below and examine the pros and cons of each approach.

Changing the fuse

This is a pretty simple task and in 80% of the cases you are better off doing it yourself. You will save both time and money with the DIY approach. However, if your fuse continues to blow multiple times a month it signals a much bigger problem. This is when you should step back and call an emergency electrician to examine everything. Trying to do it yourself may result in bigger problems because all you're doing is resetting the system and not fixing what is going wrong. As a matter of fact calling in an electrician early on may help you save some money.

Malfunctioning fan or AC

If you have an AC, fan or light which is malfunctioning the most you should do is to turn them off. Some DIY people who have knowledge may even take down the fan but it may not always be a problem with your fan which makes it malfunction. The same goes for your AC. In order to save both time and money you may want to call an emergency electrician. This electrician will start by first checking if electricity is flowing properly, is properly grounded and then check the fan and or AC. This will help him root out the problem and provide you with possible solutions. If the AC is malfunctioning you will have to get it repaired by an AC repair person, the fan may be something that your electrician could fix or replace if needed.

Smell of something burning

This is always a dangerous indicator. If you smell rubber or wires burning it can indicate a short circuit in process. You can follow your nose to find the origin of the smoke but it's not advised to try and fix it. The most you may want to do is to turn off the electricity to the entire home by flipping back the main switch. Then call an emergency electrician. This will help prevent further damage to the wires which perhaps may not cost you as much. Troubleshooting burning or hot wires on your own without the right equipment and knowledge is not advisable. There are many people who have lost their lives doing this.

Need to fix broken wires

If you have found two or more wires broken in your home it can be tempting to try and fix it. In most cases the fix may look easy i.e. just put them together and use some wire tape. However, while this may work in some cases and fix whatever the problem is, the fact is that those wires shouldn't have broken in the first place. Simply putting them together with tape means that it will work for a while until it starts giving trouble again, not to mention the fact that you risk a short circuit. This is why when you do spot broken wires or wires that seem to be breaking its best to call an electrician for the job. If you've used tape to fasten the wires you can call a regular electrician the next day who will charge you less compared to an emergency electrician. He will examine the wires to ensure that they are safe.

There are some problems that you can always fix on your own but when it comes to working with electricity it's something that is best left to the professionals.

Emergency electrician services like those provided by Electrician to the Rescue are often swift, they reach your doorstep within just 30 minutes and can fix most problems. This is reason enough to step back and not put yourself in harm's way especially since an electric shock can be lethal.

Citations:
10 Things to Ask Your Contractor Before You Start Your Project

Mark L. has been an electrician for over 20 years. During his years as an electrician he claims to have seen everything and been a victim of numerous high voltage shocks. His time as an emergency electrician has taught him to be careful. This is why he strongly advises even experienced DIY people to steer clear of electricity unless they really know what they are doing.

One Comment

  1. Hi Mark,

    When it comes to safety I fully agree with you, unless you are competent, PLEASE do not touch anything to do with electricity.

    Leave it to the trained and competent electricians.

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