We were called to a 40 year old home in Portsmouth when the lights and outlets stopped working.
The owner was convinced that the circuit breaker must have failed, but we quickly determined that wasn’t the case.
The family was actually experiencing a failure causing an “open neutral” condition.
This is one of the most dangerous fire hazard conditions in the home.
During this type of failure, voltage travels to the lights and outlets, but the return path is interuppted. This is often accompanied by high current arcs which can reach hundreds of degrees in seconds.
Arcing like that is completely invisible to traditional circuit breakers.
To protect aging homes from electrical fires caused by Arcing, Arc Fault Circuit Interuppters (AFCI’s) are recommended.
AFCI’s are required in new construction homes on nearly every circuit, and in older homes when outlets are replaced.
Any home with a modern breaker panel can be retrofitted with Arc Fault Protection.
Schedule a visit from one of our Licensed Electrical experts to diagnose your lights not working, or learn about your options for Arc Fault protection, and a whole home electrical safety assessment is included!
757-814-1979
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