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From: ranck on 22 Dec 2008 14:20
Billy <UseNewz(a)hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Get an electrician to make an assesment. ??He'll know immediately if
> > you've got aluminum wiring by looking in the breaker box.
> > This could get expensive if you need to replace a lot of wires, but
> > the alternative is a good chance of a house fire.

> how will the electrician identify where a loose or corroded wire is
> without taking the whole house apart? This could be any plug, light,
> appliance, etc..... Sounds like he may be there for hours/days with a
> high bill.....

An electrician will identify each circuit and try to find which outlets
and swtiches and lights are on each one. Then, inspect each of those
to determine where the bad connection is. It will probably be obvious.
There will be signs of heat damage on the wire insulation and/or
outlet/switch/fixture. It is unlikely to require tearing the house
apart. The problem will 99.999% of the time be at a junction box, and
those are supposed to be accessible. Unless you or the previous
owner buried a junction box behind a wall or ceiling there should
not be any reason to tear them out.

Following and figuring out the wiring is tedious, but not too hard.
With a circuit tracer it's even easier, but yes, to some extent it's
a case of following each circuit, or at least the circuits that are
having problems and checking and tightening each and every connection
along the way. Expensive, maybe, how expensive is a house fire?

Bill Ranck
Blacksburg, Va.


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