It’s fair to say that installing an electrical receptacle is one of the easier things for a homeowner to tackle. But are you making sure that you’re installing them properly? In this video, I will walk you through the right and wrong way to wire an electrical receptacle and why. I will touch on arc fault detection and how to protect your house from heat buildup and fire caused by improper installation of electrical receptacles.

There are two ways to connect your conductors to an electrical receptacle. The first is the preferred means of most electricians in the field and that is to wrap your stripped conductor around the screws on the side of the device and turn the screws to ensure a tight connection. The second is to use the small holes in the back of the device called “quick connects.” Now, there are debates about whether or not these quick connects are problematic but in my own experience I have seen them fail time and again and when they do, they cause a serious fire threat.

Arcing is caused when there is a gap between the electrical conductor and the device that it is powering. When electricity hast to jump from the conductor to the device, even if it’s a small jump, there is significant heat buildup. New advances in technology have given us the arc fault breaker as well as arc fault devices. What these devices do is monitor the electric waveform for distortion caused by an arc, in which case they trip.

If your home was built within the last 20 years, chances are your receptacles have been installed using quick connects. If that’s the case, we offer simple solutions. At Lumen Brothers we will arc fault protect each circuit in your home required by the national code. We will also remove outlets from their housing and ensure proper wiring and connections. If your home is very old, arc fault breakers may not be possible without completely re-wiring each circuit. This is due to older methods of wiring as well as years of additional electrical work to your homes circuitry.

If you’d like us to take a look at your electrical circuitry and protect it from arc faults, contact us today. We’d be happy to help.

Lumen Brothers Electric