Repairing and upgrading the old electrical wiring in your Vancouver Home
A recent study showed that the average income is actually 3 times lower than what is needed to purchase a single detached home in Vancouver. With this in mind, those lucky people that can afford to purchase a home are most likely looking at purchasing an older home. Older homes may be more affordable up front, but if proper inspections are not done, you could find yourself spending money on repairs you had no idea even needed to be done. The electrical system in your home is most likely one of the areas you know very little about. A majority of homes go years and years without ever even thinking about what sits behind your walls. Typically, the electrical system only gets looked at when purchasing a new home and the insurance company wants to ensure there are no hidden fire hazards behind the walls.
When it comes to electrical issues, there are a few main things home inspectors and insurance companies are looking for. These are the easiest red flags to look for and what goes into repairing or bringing them up to code.
- Knob and Tube Wiring
- Aluminum Wiring
- 60 Amp Service
If you want a more in-depth explanation on what these systems look like and why they are dangerous, you can read about it in our article about Old Electrical Wiring.
Knob and Tube Wiring
Knob and Tube wiring is commonly thought of as the nightmare scenario when it comes to electrical in your home. When your insurance company assesses your home, this type of wiring will ensure you pay the highest premiums possible as such a high percentage of these homes have had fires.
For your own peace of mind, this is not necessarily true! Knob and Tube wiring is a very robust system and design, as long as it is in the same condition as when it was installed. If a renovation has taken place and people have worked on the system, then the dangers have been increased.
Now you may be wondering how we repair knob and tube and make it safe for you and your family. There are really two options when it comes to making the home safer.
First, is to completely re-wire the home from the ground up. By removing ALL of the old wiring and installing new wiring, you literally have a brand-new electrical system. This is the most expensive option and involves cutting channels in the walls and ceiling throughout the entire house to run new wiring. The walls then need to be patched and repaired, primed and painted before the house is fully operational.
If re-wiring your home is the option you want to go with, a few things we strongly recommend happen are:
- New 200-amp Service Upgrade
- New Main Panel and Disconnect
- New ground plate and ground wire installed.
- Bonding of metal water and gas lines at point of entry into home
- Removal of ALL knob and tube
The second option when it comes to a home with knob and tube wiring is to simply install GFCI outlets at every receptacle in the house. This option does not remove the risk of damaged wiring behind the walls, but it does offer protection to the occupants from electric shock. Homes with knob and Tube are not properly grounded and bonded to todays standards and the risk of shock is much higher when using a two-prong outlet. By upgrading all the receptacles to GFCI type, this at least ensures any leaked current does not end up going through your heart.
In our opinion, we recommend going for a full re-wire as there really is no way of knowing what is hiding behind the walls. We are able to run certain tests to check voltage drop and use thermal imaging to try and find potential hot spots, but nothing can 100% guarantee like a complete re-wire.
Aluminum Wiring
Aluminum wiring was very popular in homes built between 1965 and 1975 because of the drastic increase in the price of copper. Although aluminum is still used today in electrical, the use is limited to larger cables that are terminated into mechanical lugs and not used for regular branch circuits.
There are many dangers with aluminum wiring and for a full explanation you can read about it in our post on Old Electrical Wiring.
Just like Knob and Tube, there are a couple ways to ensure the safety of your wiring. The first of course is a complete re-wire of your home. Many people are not going to undertake this step as it creates a large amount of mess and there are more viable options that greatly minimize the fire risks when done properly.
The second option when it comes to aluminum wiring is to install copper pigtails on the existing aluminum wiring in the box. This option involves opening all your electrical boxes, lights, and switches, and attaching a piece of copper on the end of the wires, then re-installing new devices and cover plates.
This type of job can normally be done in a day or two and the only real inconvenience is having to move all your furniture around and out of the way.
If you are going with the second option, there are a couple different ways to complete this upgrade and not all of them are correct! It is very important that your electrical contractor is experienced and trained specifically in these upgrades because working with aluminum takes certain skills that not every electrician is capable of doing. Your electrician needs to be using approved wire connectors specifically rated for copper to aluminum connections. There are many products on the market that advertise working with aluminum, but not all are rated for aluminum to aluminum as well as aluminum to copper. Make sure to read the spec sheets on any products used to make sure they are properly rated.
Your electrician should also be using an anti-oxidation paste as well as cleaning with a wire brush on all exposed aluminum. Some connectors come with this paste already installed and others do not, requiring it to be added. Some sneaky contractors looking to save any penny may choose to skip these easy steps that really are very important in keeping your system fire free!
When it comes to aluminum upgrades, the cheapest quote really should raise some serious red flags! Working with aluminum and ensuring proper safety imposes a lot of risk on the contractor doing the work as they are signing off on its safety. Hiring someone under the table who may take short cuts may save a couple dollars up front, but in the event of a fire could leave you without a home.
We also recommend upgrading the breakers in your electrical panel if they have not already been replaced. Panel manufacturers put a 30-year life on the breakers to safely do their job, after 30 years, there is no way of knowing whether or not the breaker will actually stop the short circuit. Provided your brand of panel is still being manufactured, this is a very easy step. If your panel is no longer being manufactured, then we strongly recommend a panel upgrade at this time as well.
60 Amp Service
Homes built prior to 1955 were typically built with a 60-amp service as the only major electric appliance in the home in those days was an electric stove. Typically, these homes did not have electric heating, electric clothes dryers or any of the modern conveniences we enjoy today. Because of such a low demand on the electrical system, building a home with a 100-amp service was something reserved to a more “custom” home.
Now there really is only one option when it comes to upgrading your electrical service, and that is to physically upgrade the service itself… A typical overhead service and panel upgrade should cost around the $4500 mark, depending on your specific scenario.
There is another alternative to upgrading the electrical service, but most insurance companies do not want to take the risk and demand a complete upgrade. You could ask your insurance company if a load calculation and proof of usage will be allowed. If your home has a 60 amp service with all gas appliances, the electrical wiring, panel and conductors are all in good condition and the usage history provided from your utility company shows a very low average, this may be enough to plead your case as to why your 60 amp service is still acceptable. We have yet to experience this scenario as most homeowners are looking to add EV charges, hot tubs, steam showers and many other luxuries we have today.
When homes were built with 60-amp services, the electrical demands were not the same as the ones we require today. Insurance companies being in the risk management business understand that by running an electric stove and dryer at the same time is most likely exceeding your 60-amp service and causing a fire hazard!
There really is only one way to fix this problem… a completely new electrical service. This involves contacting your local utility company to ask if they even have the capacity on the transformer feeding your home, pulling a permit, installing a new meter base, service mast and new electrical panel. There will usually be a day where your home is without power while you wait for inspections and the utility company to upgrade the wires to your house. The worst part about this process is organizing a day where the power can be shut off, an inspector is able to come take a look and hopefully pass everything the first time and then wait for the utility company to upgrade the new wiring from the pole to your home.
If you are upgrading your electrical service, we strongly recommend getting a 200-amp service. Your insurance company will tell you that a 100-amp service is enough to satisfy their needs, but there really is no cost savings in material between a 100-amp and 200-amp service. A little insider secret… the material difference is probably a few hundred dollars depending on the install.
Some things you should make sure your contractor takes care of while upgrading the service is upgrading the ground plate and ground wire, bonding the incoming cold-water pipe and gas lines, and making sure your new mast is bolted through into the structure of your home and not just held on by the siding. Far too often do we see new services ripped off of a home due to strong winds because the mast was not bolted right into structural framing.
A few steps that we like to take that not every contractor will do is installing a new disconnect as well as a new panel. A disconnect is a switching device either inside the meter base or separately installed that will allow you to completely shut down and service your electrical panel without having to call your utility company to come and pull your meter base. If there ever is a need to service your electrical panel (trust me, this does happen) this is a sure way to make sure the entire panel can quickly, easily and safely be serviced without the need for wasting time with utilities.
If you have any questions about your electrical service and if you need an upgrade, read about it here; Does Your Home Need A Service Upgrade.
