When your lights flicker or your electrical outlets spark, you may feel tempted to grab your tool belt and set to work. After all, how hard could electrical repairs be?
But before you switch off that circuit breaker, keep in mind that some jobs are best left to the
professionals, including your electrical.
Leave your electrical work to AJ Palmer Electrical
If you’re not convinced, take a look at the reasons why we should do that electrical work for you!
1. Safety
As a DIY-er, you may already understand that some home repairs come with varying levels of risk. You may crush your thumb as you try to hit a nail with your hammer. Or you may fall off the roof when you attempt to clean the gutters.
But when you struggle with your electrical, you increase your risk for injury dramatically. Electric shock can damage the nervous, cardiovascular and respiratory systems. It can also lead to fires and severe property damage.
2. Cost-Efficiency
When you fix most things on your own, you can save a great deal in parts and labour. You can find replacement fixtures on sale, and you don’t have to worry about paying yourself.
However, you don’t have a guarantee that your electrical repairs will last you for days, let alone months or even years. If your appliances must run on poorly fixed wiring or circuits, you may soon see premature wear and tear on connecting motors and gears. As a result, you may need to continually replace varying parts of your unit or machine. And in extreme cases, you may have to replace your entire appliance.
3. Speed
Unless you have an electrician’s background or education, you may have to teach yourself a few things before you can properly diagnose or repair a problem.
To replace a worn-out outlet or fan belt, for example, you may need to read multiple articles, watch countless videos and ask a few friends for advice before you feel comfortable enough handling the job on your own. And despite your research, you may still struggle to handle unfamiliar tools and force parts to slide into small spaces.
4. Accuracy
Lights flicker for various reasons. The bulb might not properly connect to the socket. The circuit may have come loose. Another appliance may have overwhelmed your home’s ampacity.
Unless you have the right tools for a diagnosis, you may struggle to accurately pinpoint the precise nature of your electrical problem. Though you can guess and check each theory, you may feel overwhelmed at the sheer number of possible solutions to your unique situation.
Furthermore, as you tear into your walls or pull out your wiring to find the problem, you may cause additional damage to other parts of your electrical. What starts out as a loose connection could quickly spiral into a snapped cable.
5. Legal
Australian law allows you to swap out dead lightbulbs and install battery-operated smoke detectors without too much fuss.
However, due to high safety risks, most electrical work requires an experienced, licensed professional. If you attempt to do your own wiring without a license, you could potentially incur penalties of up to $100,000 and even end up with two years of jail time. If your unprofessional wiring causes death or injury, the penalties will become even more severe.
Consequently, you should never replace a light switch, install a new power point, replace a plug on the end of a lead or perform similar electrical tasks on your own.
Don’t Wait to Call an Expert
Although you can handle a variety of DIY projects, don’t hesitate to call AJ Palmer Electrical for all your electrical needs in North Brisbane and surrounding suburbs.
For more information please see Worksafe QLD
