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I would like to recommend Brandon for his excellent job during the inspection. He is very professional, thorough and is an expert in his field. I enjoyed his partnership during inspection, the knowledge he shared of the risks of certain issues was incredible. I am very glad that he inspected the house for us and wishing him more success in future.
30 2022
Have you ever looked at your home inspection report and saw something about double-tapped breakers in the electric panel? Most likely you did, and most likely you were confused about what that was. Well, in this article, we will clarify that. When more than one wire is connected to a breaker, it becomes a double-tapped breaker. It is typically not allowed because it carries the risk of fire and therefore harming you and your family.
Normally, a breaker isn’t suitable for handling two wires, so when there are two wires attached to a single breaker, it will most likely end up in two scenarios. The first one is that one wire is looser than the other one which can possibly spark or arc. The second one is the overloaded breaker, which can continuously trip or overheat. This constant overheating can possibly cause a fire so in both scenarios, double-tapped breakers are dangerous. Because of this, if you notice them, you should reach out to a professional electrical contractor as soon as possible.
If you have never dealt with a double-tapped breaker, it might be hard for you to both identify and fix the problem. The good news is that you have more than one option when it comes to fixing them. Now, we will go over some of the choices you have and when you need to contact a professional.
This is the first method you can use. All you need to have is a short wire and wire knot. Simply take both wires and the third short wire together and twist their ends. Afterward, connect them with a wire knot and simply attach that to the circuit breaker. That’s all you need to do. This is a method that works almost every single time.
A square-D tandem circuit breaker is designed to accept two wires in a single breaker. There are two slots where two wires can be connected. Especially when installing a new breaker on your panel board, this is a wonderful way of preventing double-tap connections. Simply replace your old circuit breaker.
Although you can try out these two techniques on your own, it is better to be safe than sorry. If you aren’t very knowledgeable when it comes to your electrical system, contacting a qualified electrician is a safe and better option. You will most likely need a trustable company but finding them and booking a schedule with them isn't the easiest thing to do. To solve this problem, all you have to do is to call Atlanta Property Inspection. Our home inspectors can give you advice on how to find a reliable electrician while performing a home inspection to see if there are any other defects in your electrical system. This way, when the electrical contractors come to your house, you will be able to take care of any additional things that need to be done in your electrical system at once and this will allow you to save time.
