8 Electrical Wiring Basics Homeowners Should Know

The electrical wiring for your home can be very confusing and complicated, more so if you're a novice. Because of this, you should always hire a qualified professional to do all the electrical wiring tasks in your home for your safety. Doing this also helps prevent fire or damage to your home. 

But if you're determined to do some electrical jobs by yourself, you need to familiarize yourself first with the basics of electrical wiring. This way, you'll be in a position as a homeowner to regularly do routine maintenance, solve common issues in your home and do minor repairs. Without further ado, here are some of the electrical wiring basics you need to learn about your home's electrical wiring. 

Steps To Wire Your Home

You should start by understanding the steps to follow when wiring your home before heading to Electricalwholesale.com to buy electrical components. You must do this for you to correctly and safely do your home's wiring by yourself. But before you start this process, make sure you have certain tools with you, including; 

a) Cable and cable boxes 

b) Cable tester 

c) Wire strippers 

d) Cordless drill

e) Hammer 

f) Wire connectors 

g) Tape measure 

h) Sharpie and masking tape 

After confirming you have all these tools, the next thing to do is to learn the steps to follow when installing the electrical wiring in your home, and these include; 

Disconnect The Power Supply

You must be careful about your safety when doing your home's electrical wiring by yourself. This is why you must start by first disconnecting the power supply before you think of touching the electrical system. You can either cut the power by going to the house meters to turn off the power leads or contact your power supplier to switch off the power on your behalf. 

Install An Electrical Board

The next thing you need to do is connect an electrical board at the precise position through which power finds its way into your home. You need a screwdriver and hammer to create holes in the panel where electricity will pass. 

Follow this up by passing these cables through, securing the clamps, and loosening the lugs positioned on the brass bus bars. Consequently, place the red cable inside one bus bar and the black cable in the other one and start securing the lugs. Follow this up by fastening together the silver bus bar and the white cable. 

Set Up The Connection

This step entails drilling the ground using a metal ground bar and running an 8-gauge copper wire towards the rod from the panel. Consequently, attach one end to the rod using a ground clamp and the opposite end to a ground bus found on the service board. 

If water pipes are entering your home, locate a ground bar that's close and link it to these pipes using a different 8-gauge wire. 

Add A Circuit Breaker

Installing a circuit breaker is the next step, as this allows you to link all the electrical circuits in your home to the service board. Pass each cable through the knockout hole in a panel where you'll fix the clamp. Subsequently, connect each cable's white wire to a silver bus, the breaker to the black wire, and link the ground wire and ground bus. 

Follow this by connecting every breaker onto the brass bus through the available slot. For 240-volt circuits, join the black and red wires to separate the breakers on the paired set. 

Optimize The Circuit Breaker

For this step, you need to create holes in the floor and walls through which to pass cables to the horse through the board. The design of the circuits should be such that it cuts the length of the needed cable while simultaneously making sure you don't overload the breaker on the circuit by connecting a lot of items. 

Secure the cables to the roof rafters, floor joists, and wall studs to prevent possible issues which are a result of having loose cables throughout your home. 

Mount The Electrical Box

You now need to connect the electrical box to all the spots where there's an outlet, light fitting, or switch. In many instances, you also need to connect boxes to the rafters or studs. But you need to get a remodeling box that directly connects to the drywall if you have an enclosed wall. 

A crucial precaution you must take during your home's wiring is never to connect two cables outside the electrical box. Doing this is unsafe because it exposes the entwined and capped cables. 

Size Your Cables

The size of the cable usually depends on the breaker which controls the circuit. The available options to consider are the 14-gauge cable for the 10-amp to 15-amp breakers. But for the 20-amp breaker, you require a 12-gauge cable which is much thicker. 

You should go for the 10-gauge, four-strand cable for every 240-volt equipment, which needs a 30-amp breaker and uses an 8-gauge wire which might require a 50-amp breaker. Make sure every 240-volt appliance is linked to a dedicated circuit. 

Inspect Your Work

You shouldn't make the mistake of saying you're done without first inspecting your work. And to do this, you need to push the connections to see whether they're safe. Likewise, turn on the power to confirm that everything is working smoothly and no unwanted incident will occur. Using your voltage tester, you also should check the casings to see if they aren't electrified. After that, get the right insulators which typically have a longer life. 

Takeaway

Electricity is an integral component in every functioning household. Without it, routine activities such as powering heating and cooling systems, watching television, turning on the lights, or charging your smartphone would be impossible. But in case of any issue with your home's electrical wiring, you first need to understand the basics of setting them up. This will help you know how to get things running again after failing or you can get consultant from team of Sydney electricians.

Detailed in this exhaustive guide is an overview of the electrical wiring basics you need to know as a homeowner to ensure your electrical system is safely working and running properly.