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Wagner Electric provides affordable electrician services for all of your home rewire needs. Call us today for your free estimate to have your old wiring replaced.

Electrical Wiring Upgrades

Planning a home renovation project? Most or your homes wiring is hidden from veiw within the walls. Consider having your homes wiring updated during your renovation project. Home renovation projects that in involve opening walls and ceilings is the ideal time to address your homes wiring system. Many homes have ungrounded or aluminum wiring, updating the wiring will give your home the added protection of being grounded and having adequate wiring to handle your power needs.

Not having the correct wiring or enough power isn't just an inconvenience, it can actually damage sensitive electronics. You may need to add more outlets and circuits to better serve your needs. Using power strips and extension cords is a sure sign that you need more outlets, using power strips and extension cords is a mere bandaide to not having enough outlets.

Many homes built in the 1960's to the 1970's have aluminum wiring. After a decade or so of homes being wiring with aluminum wiring, it was apparent that there were problems associated with the use of aluminum wiring, aluminum is much softer than copper and is more suseptible to heat build up. Aluminum wiring can often loosen at connections of breakers, switches and outlets. A loose connection will overheat and possibly cause a fire.


Problems associated to Aluminum Wiring

  • Aluminum wiring has a high resistance to electrical current flow. Aluminum wiring must be one size larger for the given amperage than that of copper wiring
  • Aluminum will break down more than copper wiring when bent around and tighten down on at terminal connections, this increases it's resistance to current flow.
  • Aluminum wiring will corrode over time when exposed to moisture, oxygen or connected to switches and outlets of dissimilar metals.
  • Aluminum wiring has greater thermal contraction and expansion than copper wiring. The expansion and contraction causes loose connections at outlets, switches and light fixtures.
  • Current vibrates as it passes through wiring, vibration is more extreme in aluminum wiring than that of copper wiring. Vibrations will cause connections to become loose and cause heat build up.

Ungrounded Electrical Outlets and Wiring

Ungrounded outlets are easily distinguished by their two prong slot configuration verses the newer three pronged type grounded outlet. older electrical wiring did not contain a grounding conductor, while it is not required to upgrade ungrounded outlets to the grounded type, it is still a good idea to because a properly wired home is a safer home for you and your family.

The problems for home owners begin when 2 wire ungrounded outlets are swapped for grounded type outlets without the nessary rewiring that will add the grounding conductor. Home owners tend to replace the old 2 prong outlet with the standard 3 prong outlet to establish a more convenient outlet for their three pronged appliances and devices. According to the electrical code these ungrounded outlets are still not grounded without ungrading the entire branch circuit that feeds the outlets. Without upgrading the wiring to a grounded type circit gives the user the misconception that the outlet is grounded.

Replacing a 2 pronged outlet with a 3 pronged outlet is not code compliant unless a new grounded circuit is installed. This will require a licensed electrician to install the new wiring from the breaker panel to the new grounded outlets. An exception to this code requirement is to install GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) receptacle outlets, or a GFCI breaker is to be installed in the breaker panel. Another way to address the ungrounded circuit is to run a grounding conductor to each individual outlet, but at this point though it would make more sense to simply run new wiring which includes the grounded conductor.

A GFCI protected device will trip when there is a diffrence in the amount of current flowing through the neutral side of the electrical wiring. So, if a ground fault did occur, a functional GFCI device will automatically trip and stop the current flow. Installing a GFCI receptacle in place of an ungrounded receptacle can be a cheap alternative to rewiring, but in the case of compter with asurge protector power strip, the intended surge protection will not function. If you read the fine print in the included surge protecor instructions, you will see that the waranty covers devices given the surge protector is plugged into a grounded outlet.

Surge protectors direct any surges to the grounding system of the outlet that it is plugged into, without the grounding system, the surge protector will not be able to do the job that it was intended to do. With not having the surge protector plugged into a grounded outlet will void any warrany claims that you may intend to utilize in the case of a computer or other equipment damage due to a power surge.

Call Wagner Electric today for a free quote for your wiring upgrade project, We serve the entire Sheboygan and surrounding area

Phone:(920)946-0372

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