Electric Service Home Inspection Checklist

An inspector will start by looking at the "drop," where electrical service comes to your house from telephone poles, or where the line emerges from buried cable. Either one feeds into your electric meter. The system needs to be clear of corrosion, to use the cables and conduits --- or raceways --- specified by your local building code and to be properly grounded by a wire into the soil to deal with accidental shorts.

Amperes and volts measure the amount of electricity flowing into your home and the rate at which it flows, respectively. The bigger your demand, the more electricity you need by both measures. You need higher-voltage service for more powerful appliances, such as kitchen ranges, central air conditioners or heating systems. You can test the adequacy of total service by turning on all available lamps and fixtures, then starting a major appliance, such as a washer spin cycle, dryer or dishwasher. If the lights dim, you may have overloaded your system. If only one circuit dims, you still need the help of an electrician to get that appliance onto a separate circuit.

This part of the inspection starts with the circuit-breaker panels or fuse boxes that deal with what are summarized as overcurrent conditions. It looks for overloaded circuits such as that one that dimmed when the washer motor started. You can also take note of circuits you frequently have to reset and especially of any that show signs of scorching around them. This is a very serious situation that needs an electrician's immediate attention. An inspector will also look at what kinds of wire are used to carry power out on those circuits to make sure they meet your local code. Aluminum was used in the past, sometimes with copper cladding, but it can corrode, causing electrical resistance at connections, which results in overheating.

As the inspection follows the electricity out to the point of use, there's so much to check that only the homeowner can make the examination comprehensive. A professional inspector is required to check only "a representative number" of these end units, flicking switches and dimmers and perhaps plugging a lamp or tester into a few plugs. The inspector should check all GFCI --- ground-fault current interrupter --- receptacles, which should be in place in the kitchen and bathroom, where there's any possibility of water causing a short. Your visual inspection should also include looking for scorching or melting on the receptacle covers, as well as for looseness or damage to those covers.