Regardless of the power source, the majority of U.S. households have electrical service in their home. Power sources can be the local power company, a generator, solar panels, or windmills. A power company will only hook up power to a power meter on the house. It falls to a licensed electrician to install electrical panels and the wiring throughout the house.
If you are building, remodeling, or tackling any renovation project where electricity is involved, you should seek the services of a licensed electrician. Do-it-yourselfers and inexperienced handymen can experience significant injury or death due to an electric shock. In addition, faulty wiring in a house can cause house fires. Licensed electricians have the proper training and experience to perform any electrical work safely and efficiently as described on HandyMan Tips blog.
When building a new home, an electrician performs his work prior to any insulation and drywall. If the home has wood framing, the electrician drills holes through the framing to place wires from the electrical panels to various outlets. If the home has steel framing, these steel frames already have pre-drilled holes to allow for easy wire feeding. The electrical panel houses circuits where the various wires are attached. Each circuit has the capability of switching off, or tripping, if there is an electrical overload on that outlet. In older homes, you will find fuses in the electrical panel. Fuses will burn in the case of an electrical overload and break the circuit.
Licensed electricians are not only needed when wiring outlets for a new home. Cable television is another instance where electricians are utilized. At the birth of cable television, electricians fed the cable lines from the outside poles directly into the television set in the home. Coaxial cable then came on the market which brought with it the invention of the cable box. The cable serviceman, also an electrician, would then only feed the cable wire from the pole to the outside of the home. The newest technology for cable television is known as low voltage wiring.
Low voltage wiring is thus called because it uses very little current, if any. It also facilitates a broad range of services in addition to cable television; including home alarm systems, home computing networks, home media systems, lighting systems and more. This new technology has changed the face of electrical wiring in new homes. An electrician will now install the traditional wiring and also install CAT5 cable for home computing. Low voltage wiring work does not require a licensed electrician, but again, the training and experience a licensed electrician brings to a job is a valuable tool. With the rise in popularity of wireless signals and wireless networks, electrical and low voltage wiring is sure to undergo more changes.