Electric Checks After A Food And Water Leak

Water and electricity are friends? Not at all! If you have water leaks or floods in your homes, apartments, stores, etc, you should deal with them correctly. If not, be ready for the dangerous consequences then.

In today’s article, I will tell you how to check all the electricity wiring or appliances after the flood or water leaks have been damaged or when to prevent them. Moreover, you will get a full guide about the safety procedures. So take your time and scroll down to the end.

When Should I Do My Electric Checks After A Flood And Water Leak?

The best time to enter and do electronic checks at your property after a flood and water leak is when all the water gets dried and recedes. If you do not have the flood water level redrawing, do not enter your places.

Please wait for a while till the water gets back to normal or decreases in its level. Once done, call your professional electrician to access all the electronics and do his best electrical inspections and tests.

To ensure safety, he should only start checking when everything gets dry. The floor gets dehydrated, the appliances dry, and everything covered in water gets dry. This is to avoid further mishaps.

How To Check Your Electrics When Get Hit By Flood Or Water?

There are two electric checks methods to be performed by your professional electrician. These are ;

EICR allows you to have a deep and thorough examination of your electronics. That could be electric wiring, appliances, or electric installation boxes.

Whenever a flood is experienced, the first ever safety check is this process, which is done right after the water recedes. Only a professional and skilled electrician will look through your electrics and guide you on whether they are damaged and could be repaired or need rewiring or updation.

PAT Testing

PAT Testing ensures the safety of your appliances. Like the EICR mentioned above, it’s also a check process to test your appliances, which are now dried by flood water or other water leaks.

If you want to know whether to use the same appliance without any electric hazards, you must do the PAT testing by a professional electrician. If the appliance is not safe and secure for more use, PAT testing will tell you to replace it.

Just go with these processes to ensure full safety and further evaluation without any future damages.

How Can I Prevent Any Kind Of Electric Disasters After Floods or Water Leakage In My Apartment?

You should follow the following steps to prevent any of the electric mishaps.

• First and foremost, you should call a professional electrician and wait for his arrival.

• The electrician will let you know when to enter the property. He will wait for the water to recede. After that, he will cut the main electricity supply to the place.

• The second step would be removing the meter from sockets and checking any electric flow in the water.

• The grounding system should be checked properly.

After these things, you should check your wires, appliances, switchboards, etc., for water leaks or flood-damaged appliances.

What Precautions Should Be Taken To Enter The Property After Flood Or Water Leak?

Some precautions are below to be taken by you and your local electrician while entering the property after a flood and water leaks. These are:

• Do check the buzzing wires. After a flood or water leak, never try to get near a buzzing wire. Buzzing signals for an electric charge. It’s fatal to touch.

• Never try to touch a damaged wire or get near-standing water. It, too, can promote shocks and currents.

• Wires can catch fire, and explosions can occur. For that, you should avoid careless matching of two wires.

• Remember to clear or dry the water from every corner and equipment because the flooded water contains contaminants that can promote corrosion of the appliances or wires in the future.

The best thing is to call an expert to check your electrics to avoid problems regarding appliances or electricity flow.

Can I Replace My Electric Wiring After a Flood or Water Leakage to it?

To clarify, I want to give you an experienced example. My friend Louis got an electric shock as he thought the water leak only caused a fault in the circuit.

I dried the wire and made amendments to it. By connecting the wire again with a terminal, he got an electric shock, but luckily he was saved.

I explained this because you can relate how single drops of water get through the isolated wire and make it loaded with current. Think! What if a wire gets flooded in water and then gets dried? Would it be good to use it again?

A Big Fat No.

You must not use the wires again, even if they are adjusted or rectified. For your safety, it’s essential to replace them with updated wires.

Conclusion

Water and electricity are not a good match. Floods do cause damage like furniture damage or wall damage. But what about the hidden damages? The hidden damages are the electrical damages, which can be fatal if not handled properly and correctly.

It would help if you ran the flooded place through specific tests like the Electric Insulation conditioning report or Pat test, which can only be conducted by an expert and professional electrician. After the electrical check, you must keep in mind the precautions.

All wires, circuits, outlets, or appliances are updated solely for safety reasons. To start living again in your home or apartment, you must ensure its safety and sound environment by a proper final check from a licensed electrician.