The Electrical Check Every Homeowner Should Do Twice a Year
Ten minutes, no tools, nothing opened. Just looking, listening and smelling.
You are not inspecting anything. You are noticing things. That is most of the value.
Summary
- Everything here is done with the covers on and nothing disassembled.
- You are looking for heat, smell, sound and discolouration.
- Most problems announce themselves long before they fail.
Key Takeaways
- Test your GFCI outlets and check that smoke alarms respond.
- Feel outlet and switch plates for warmth, especially high-use ones.
- Write down what you find so you can compare in six months.
This takes about ten minutes and requires no tools, no ladder and nothing taken apart. It is not an inspection. It is a walk through the house paying deliberate attention to things you normally pass without a glance.
At the panel
Leave the cover on. Put the back of your hand near the panel door and then lightly on it. It should be at room temperature. Listen for a few seconds in a quiet house; you should hear nothing. Breathe in; you should smell nothing.
Look at the area around it. The panel should be clear and reachable, not blocked by storage. There is a code requirement for clear working space in front of a panel, and beyond the rule, you may one day need to reach it quickly in the dark.
Outlets and switches
Walk the house and rest a hand briefly on cover plates, particularly in the kitchen, the laundry area, behind the TV and anywhere a space heater or window unit gets used. They should be room temperature.
Look for browning or discolouration around the slots, plates that have cracked, and outlets where a plug falls out under its own weight. That last one means the internal contacts are worn, which makes for a loose connection, which makes heat.
GFCI outlets
Press TEST on each one. Power should cut with a click. Press RESET to restore it. If TEST does not kill the power, the outlet has lost its protective function even though it still works as an outlet, and it needs replacing.
Cords
Look behind furniture. You are looking for extension cords being used permanently, cords run under rugs or through doorways, several power strips chained together, and any cord that is cracked, taped or warm.
Outside
Check that outdoor outlet covers actually close and that the gaskets are intact. In North Texas this matters more than most places, because wind-driven rain finds any cover that no longer seals.
While you are at it
Press the test button on your smoke alarms. It is not strictly electrical, but you are already walking the house, and alarms are the single highest-value thing in it.
Write it down
Keep a note on your phone. "March: hallway outlet slightly warm." In six months you will know whether that is unchanged or getting worse, and that comparison is worth more than any single observation.
Need this done right?
Jarrett Page has 30 years in the trade and works Dallas-Fort Worth personally.
