Can You Do Your Own Electrical Repairs?

We all prefer to try and sort out our own home repairs, rather than spending money on getting someone in to do them. Those of us with a DIY bent are especially fond of tinkering with and fixing things around the house. When it comes to electrical repairs, however, there are plenty of reasons why you shouldn’t try DIY at all.

 

For a start, home electrical circuits contain far more current than we might think. Getting a mild shock from a faulty toaster is one thing, but being exposed to the full power of your mains circuit can have fatal consequences. You could also damage your electrical system, which can cause fires and create unintended hidden hazards that you may only notice once it’s too late.

 

So while it’s fine to change a plug on a home device or replace lightbulbs, that’s about as far as you should go if you’re not a qualified electrician yourself. 

 

Is DIY electrical work legal?

 

The first stumbling block is that it’s illegal to do your own home electrical repairs. In fact, Energy Safe Victoria runs an active DDIY programme – Don’t Do It Yourself . Even the smallest proper electrical job requires training and expertise, due to the danger involved. Thus only a qualified and licensed home electrician  is allowed to do this kind of work. 

 

Illegally doing your own electrical work is subject to a fine of up to $40,000 if discovered. Furthermore, If someone is exposed to serious injury or death as a result of electrical DIY, the penalty can be as much as $600,000 or a five-year prison sentence. 

 

As far as the law is concerned, DIY electrical repairs that require any kind of expertise are expressly forbidden. But there are other very good reasons why you shouldn’t attempt it. Even if it seems a simple thing to replace a power point, guided by a YouTube video.

 

The risk of electrocution

As a lay person, you don’t have the deeper background knowledge about how your electrical circuit works. This includes things like the right precautions to take when working with live wires, and how all your connections work. There’s a reason why it takes years of training to qualify as an electrician. By not fully understanding the dangers you’re exposing yourself to, or the intricacies of your home circuitry, it’s easy to make a mistake that can prove costly in many ways. In short, if you don’t know what you’re doing, you stand a good chance of getting an electric shock, which could require hospitalisation and could leave permanent damage. It’s just not worth taking the chance. 

 

DIY electrical repairs can create fire danger

 

Electrical malfunctions can often cause fires. These are always critically dangerous. A smouldering wire in your ceiling can develop into a raging fire before you realise it’s there. There are many ways that DIY electrical repairs can create the potential for a fire, or start one immediately.

 

If you’re not a professional electrician, your repair work could inadvertently create a faulty connection, or overload a specific part of your circuit. These circumstances create a fire hazard. It’s easy to make small mistakes if you haven’t been properly trained, like using a slightly different wire gauge. This can also cause a fire to break out, as the wire may not have the capacity to conduct all the electricity required of it and the metal will start to melt.


Electrical repairs can damage your house

 

Merely opening fixed electrical components like outlets and wiring boxes without the necessary expertise can damage your property. Your electrical system is like an iceberg – the majority of the circuit is below the surface, so to speak. So even if you do something as simple as removing an electrical attachment for a ceiling fan can damage the circuitry behind it. 

 

The electrical wiring of your house is routed through the fixed structures of your home, like walls. Accessing it requires the right tools to avoid creating damage. Only a qualified home electrician understands the circuitry and knows how to access it properly without damaging the surrounding area.

 

You could lose money in the end

 

While you may be hoping to save money by doing your own electrical repairs rather than pay a professional, there’s a greater chance that you’ll end up paying even more for an electrician to come in and undo any damage you’ve done. You may think that you’ve fixed the faulty power point, only to have an appliance fried when you plug it in. Then you’ll have to replace the appliance on top of getting an electrician to fix up what you’ve done.

 

Electrical work needs the right specialist tools on top of the necessary knowledge, training and certification. Attempting repairs without these is more likely to cause damage or personal injury than solve the problem, piling on additional costs that you didn’t anticipate.

 

Always leave electrical repairs to professionals

 

If you need any kind of electrical repairs, whether it’s a small task like replacing a power point or light switch, or more extensive work, you should always call in a qualified electrician to do it. When you need an electrician near home to conduct repairs in the Melbourne area, you can confidently contact STL Electrical . We promise professional service to the highest standards, and have been serving the broader Melbourne community for over 20 years.

 

Our electricians are all accredited to undertake any kind of electrical repairs and installations, and know how to safely fix any issues without risk of injury or damage to your home. You can also schedule an electrical safety inspection, and we’ll give your house a thorough going over, to make sure everything is in good working order, safe for you and your family to live in.