Electrical

Electrical outlets

While inspecting the interior rooms, look for electrical hazards and violations and whether there are an adequate number of electrical out-lets on the walls. These items are discussed in chapter 12. According to the electrical code, the outlets in a new house must be located such that no point on the wall is more than 6 feet horizontally from an outlet. However, the actual number of outlets needed for a specific room depends on the room’s usage and the position of the furniture.

Look at the electrical outlets. In new homes and in recently rewired older homes, the receptacles have three slots rather than two. The third slot is a ground connection that is used in conjunction with the three-prong plugs found on most modern appliances. It is a safety feature and is used for grounding the casing of electrical appliances and equipment. Should an internal short develop between the wiring and the equipment or appliance casing, the ground connection directs the leakage current harmlessly to the ground rather than through the user.

Not all electrical appliances and equipment have a grounding wire (three-prong plug). Some are made with double-insulated plastic cases that prevent the user from touching anything electrically charged, even if an internal short should develop. This type of equipment does not require a ground connection and can therefore be used with the older two-slot receptacles. As a safety precaution, you should use only electrical appliances and equipment that have been approved by Underwriters Laboratories, Inc., or some other nationally recognized testing agency.

The two-slot outlet receptacles can be used for the grounding of appliances with three-prong plugs. Adapters are available at hardware and electrical supply stores to enable two-slot receptacles to accept the three-prong plugs. To complete the ground connection when using the adapter, remember that the small wire (pigtail) must be secured to the center screw on the receptacle cover plate.

Check the receptacles (two- and three-slot) to determine if they are electrically hot and whether they are properly grounded. This can be done using a simple plug-in tester available at all electrical supply stores. It is particularly important to check the integrity of the electrical grounding for the receptacles located in the bathroom and kitchen. Receptacles that are not properly grounded are potential hazards and should be corrected or at the very least not used with appliances that require grounding.

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