Your home's electrical system is like the respiratory system of your body: it allows all the other parts to function. If your electricity system is malfunctioning, not only is it likely that you'll have issues with your plumbing, appliances, and other parts of your home, but you are also at a greater fire risk, which is a serious safety hazard. Thankfully, there are a few things that you can look out for to help determine when you need to contact an electrical repair service to repair your home's wiring before it becomes a serious issue.

Sparking Appliances

If your plugs spark every time you plug in an appliance or a cord, you likely have some sort of exposed wiring problem behind the walls. This is extremely dangerous, as it can cause an electrical fire, which can't be put out with water and can spread throughout your home very rapidly. To see if the issue is with your appliance or with your wiring, unplug the appliance and plug in a low voltage, simple device, like a phone charger or lamp and see if it sparks. If the outlet still sparks, you should contact an electrician straight away.

Tripping Breakers

How often do you trip a breaker in your home? If the answer is anything more than rarely, you should have a professional come in and take a look at your wiring. Breakers should only trip due to issues with the power grid outside your home or if you completely overload them by plugging in and using several devices at once. In order to prevent them from tripping, you may want to move appliances around your home to different breakers if possible to reduce the load until an electrician can take a look for you.

Non-Functioning Switches and Plugs

Perhaps the most obvious sign that you need to contact an electrical professional to take a look at your home's systems is if you have switches and plugs within your home that simply do not function at all. This usually indicates that the wiring has either become disconnected through some sort of accident or is actually damaged and cut, which can happen due to physical damage and pest infestations (rodents, especially, love to chew through wires). Additionally, if switches and outlets suddenly stop working for no apparent reason, you should not plug anything in them or attempt to use them but instead contact a professional to assess the situation, as they could pose a serious fire hazard.