I'm a licensed electrician with 31-years experience in this trade. This is an informative and completely accurate take on wiring in old houses. The older the house, the more TLC is needed. Don't forget your smoke detectors.

@timothykentlawson9822

2 жыл бұрын

Agreed! 👍

@dwaynes5983

5 ай бұрын

and fire extinguishers. When we brought our home, I installed 9 fire extinguishers, smoke detectors and carbon

I love how calm Heath delivers his advice, and his assurance not to freak at any problems you find at first. Thank you!

I am not an electrician, but one of the things I would look for is ensure that circuit breakers are rated for wire gauge. I seen it often and when people shove 20 Amp breaker on 15 Amp circuit because it used to trip

@BitmappedWV

3 жыл бұрын

@WAYNE Picnot You can put a 20-amp receptacle on a 20-amp circuit with 12-gauge, but it is not required unless it’s the only receptacle on the circuit. Unless you’re using appliances that draw 20 amps, which has a different plug configuration where one of the prongs is horizontal, there’s no benefit to installing 20-amp receptacles. They’re more expensive and 99.9% of the stuff you’d ever use works just fine on a 15-amp receptacle.

@rupe53

3 жыл бұрын

@WAYNE Picnot ... yes, code allows for multiple 15 amp outlets on a 20 amp branch circuit. (USA) All 15 amp outlets are rated for a 20 amp pass-through. As soon as we're talking a larger appliance it may need a dedicated 20 amp circuit with a single outlet also rated at 20 amps.

A well put together, sensible, "just the facts" episode. Well done TOH.

Thank you for this! I have a 100 year old home. I'm having an electrician come out today to check my electric system. Now, I know what to expect and I know not to panic!

Good point and I like the new electrician. Thank you.

On the subject of fuse boxes, they're perfectly safe so long as they're in good condition and the proper size fuses are installed (it was VERY common to oversize fuses back in the day when circuits were overloaded). However, most major mortgage lenders will not issue a mortgage on a home with a fuse box. They will require it to be changed to a modern breaker panel before closing on the loan.

Great video and thanks for advice !!!!

After seeing Holmes On Homes wood houses with electrical nightmares hidden in drop ceilings and behind drywall scares the living hell out of me

Should talk about Federal Pacific Electric panels. My insurance company said they wouldn't even insure the home with that box in the house.

@HaploBartow

3 жыл бұрын

That's correct... no insurance company will. They are faulty.

@donc-m4900

3 жыл бұрын

I thought it was the grounds fault.

@steveloux4709

3 жыл бұрын

@@HaploBartow whether or not, "no insurance company will" remains to be seen. The fact is there are lots of the FPE panels and sub-panels still in service. Regardless of the insurance company's position, the Consumer Products Safety Commission found these breakers fail to properly open half the time; this should cause every homeowner to proactively change them out, irrespective of the requirements and opinions of others.

I am surprised he is not pulling the cover to inspect point of contact of breakers...the Buss Bar

@GilbertAppleby

3 жыл бұрын

I think this is just for homeowners. If you can safely inspect them, I totally agree.

@BillC-64

3 жыл бұрын

@@GilbertAppleby At the beginning he refereces the purchase of a house and the need to have that inspected, so this should be an overview of what to expect from a proper electrical inspection as it would be part of the overall home inspection.

As an FYI: Use caution when checking older outdoor cables (cloth insulation) not in conduit that exit the meter to the panel. I saw one break after it was unintentionally hit by children playing outdoors. Fortunately, no one was injured but it was still live until the electric co. pulled the meter. That was 50+ years ago so the odds of seeing one may be slim.

Great Insight.. Electrician from Kenya!

Does asbestos wiring have to be replaced entirely? My house was built in 1947 w a full basement 1st floor and 2nd floor. I Need to replace the incoming wire from the pole to the outer box. Obviously want to replace two plug receptacles with 3 plug grounded ones. But what are the rules for updating in wall wiring???

“Proper connectors used” as he pointing at 4 romex cables installed in one MC twin

@N-hunter

3 жыл бұрын

@@Kevin-mp5of maybe you should look again 2:06

So in America an electrical inspection just involves just looking at the installation? Tou don't test any of the wiring or take readings? I hope this is not the case.

While my sister was selling her home the people performing inspection stated that the circuit breaker that had sun shinning on it had to be replaced because it was warm to touch. They turned on all the electric heaters up to highest temperature a hour before this. I had my sister ask the make & model # of IR camera they used. Oops do not own one so we used our finger. Nope. She did not have to replace the panel. Also love how a lazy home inspector can determine the condition of a roof on top of 3 floors while standing at ground level.

@benjamincarpenter4376

3 жыл бұрын

Many home inspectors these days use drones to inspect roofs.

@farstrider79

3 жыл бұрын

@@benjamincarpenter4376 You can also tell a lot from inspecting the attic. If there's no water intrusion, the roof isn't leaking.

Not gonna pull the dead front panel off? Or just trying to discourage homeowners from doing it?

I have a question back in 1970s over earlier or the electricians kept saying aluminum oh my God it’s almost like nobin 2 wiring so if it was bad in 1970 why is it now being used as service to bring in service or aluminum.

I see that you use an electrical outlet tester which is unsuitable for inspection. This type of tester does not give correct information when the neutral wire is connected to the neutral terminal and the ground terminal, which is the method used by some to fool inspectors when the house has recents outlets but not connected to ground. You should use a tester designed for inspections.

I don't have a ground wire. Huge problem with essentially no solution but to bring wires to every receptacle.

@zunedog31

3 жыл бұрын

@@Kevin-mp5of Not a proper ground. Not all of my pipes are metal.

@zunedog31

3 жыл бұрын

@@brianglade848 It is an incredibly labor intensive job that isn't solved with grabbing a ground wire and connecting it up. Don't be confused, big house isn't as easy to wire as your little trailer.

@Bremend

3 жыл бұрын

Do you have the wires encased in metal conduit, you can use that as a ground assuming it runs all the way back to the panel, or you can use gfci outlets and label them with no ground

@zunedog31

3 жыл бұрын

@@brianglade848 Please don't be upset Brian. A trailer is better than nothing. You'll move up one day if you stay clean and keep saving.

@HaploBartow

3 жыл бұрын

Use GFCI breakers, then there's no problem.

Slow motion video meter inspections...can't even think up any snark.

I applied for a job as a home inspector years ago and they basically told me I was over qualified... or was that over qualified for what they were willing to pay? Nobody can be an ace in all trades and pick up on all the small things. OTOH, after years of working HVAC, generators, misc home repair, electrical, sump pumps, well pumps, etc. it's obvious that I could spot many things the average guy wouldn't.... and most home inspectors are just average guys.... working for a flat fee per inspection... which means they need to do a certain number per day to pay their own bills.... which means they don't have the time to spot every potential problem on every job site. I don't know a single inspector who would suspect a water leak and open up a wall to check for mold like they do on TV. That doesn't make them rip off artists.

Good info but the music playing in the background the whole time was annoying.

Do all electricians walk in slow motion?

@wizard3z868

3 жыл бұрын

Yes and a real pro will stutter and twitch lol

@jeffwilson1399

3 жыл бұрын

Only the union electricians.

I did have a "home electrical inspection" and they lied to me.

@wizard3z868

3 жыл бұрын

Well they did their job right what's your complaint lol hopefully it wasn't an inspector recommended by the seller or your lender?

loved brother in law mike welchs red blue macaw doug brothers cats paw

DO NOT USE A HOME INSPECTOR. Hire a pro who specializes in the field you want inspected. As a hvac tech who gets called in daily to confirm claims by these scam artists called inspectors and finding issues they completely missed.

@applianceman6194

3 жыл бұрын

As an Appliance Tech I can attest to that!! Not knowledgeable or accurate.

@mr.g937

3 жыл бұрын

Agreed, inspectors are just ticking off a checklist and only inspect things that are in plain sight

@zack9912000

3 жыл бұрын

@@mr.g937 They don't even do that, they get enough finds to make it look like they did something. Hell they don't even try to test run or even look at them. Had a guy ok a furance with a major crack and rollout and clearly lied he test ran it.

@RichTCS

3 жыл бұрын

Unless the home inspector is named Mike Holmes?

@T0M3K6

3 жыл бұрын

In the end, they are good for finding obvious typical problems and typical homebuyer is oblivious to them. Also, unless you want to use that as way to negotiate price down, don't bother getting pros. Get the house and start getting quotes to fix everything.

The jangly guitar music can no longer be stopped. The video clip ended by the music remains Now it’s all there is Morning, noon, and night, just jangly guitar music. The doctors say it’s “psychosomatic” and “in my head” but that doesn’t help Just jangly guitar riffs, day to night

Any other cable techs notice the rats nest on the side of the house?

So sorry for anyone in hands of and electrical inspector . It's a busyness crooked between the insurance company and the electricians.

Any and all cloth/nob & tube must be replaced it is too much of a risk of fire. If you don't believe me just look up house's that can't be explained and/or how many that are over 50 years old that caught fire.

@steveloux4709

3 жыл бұрын

Cloth covered wire is not the root cause these homes catch fire. Wire of this era with sound insulation can last for a very long time, provided it is not extended with illegal splicing methods and provided it has not been overheated. Overheating can occur from two primary means, 1) at ceiling lighting outlets where "pan" style fixtures have been in place for years and where such fixtures have been overlamped with high-wattage incandescent lamps. The older cloth covered insulation was no match for generations of scorching heat imposed on the old 60C insulation of cloth-covered products, and 2) what old wiring and fires have in common is fusing with Edison-based sockets that have been over-fused, often with 30A fuses. The best quick home safety improvement with older wiring is to immediately install the appropriate tamper-proof fuse adapters into the Edison base fuse holder which will guarantee only the correct size fuse is ever installed.

First

@LetsGoBrandon-FJB

3 жыл бұрын

@@brianglade848 and some ear wax scrapings from an old buick key

this old greasy slicked back hair