Electrical Inspection | Open House | Ask This Old House

I'm a licensed electrician with 31-years experience in this trade. This is an informative and completely accurate take on wiring in old houses. The older the house, the more TLC is needed. Don't forget your smoke detectors.

I love how calm Heath delivers his advice, and his assurance not to freak at any problems you find at first. Thank you!

I am not an electrician, but one of the things I would look for is ensure that circuit breakers are rated for wire gauge. I seen it often and when people shove 20 Amp breaker on 15 Amp circuit because it used to trip

A well put together, sensible, "just the facts" episode. Well done TOH.

Thank you for this! I have a 100 year old home. I'm having an electrician come out today to check my electric system. Now, I know what to expect and I know not to panic!

After seeing Holmes On Homes wood houses with electrical nightmares hidden in drop ceilings and behind drywall scares the living hell out of me

I am surprised he is not pulling the cover to inspect point of contact of breakers...the Buss Bar

On the subject of fuse boxes, they're perfectly safe so long as they're in good condition and the proper size fuses are installed (it was VERY common to oversize fuses back in the day when circuits were overloaded). However, most major mortgage lenders will not issue a mortgage on a home with a fuse box. They will require it to be changed to a modern breaker panel before closing on the loan.

Good point and I like the new electrician. Thank you.

As an FYI: Use caution when checking older outdoor cables (cloth insulation) not in conduit that exit the meter to the panel. I saw one break after it was unintentionally hit by children playing outdoors. Fortunately, no one was injured but it was still live until the electric co. pulled the meter. That was 50+ years ago so the odds of seeing one may be slim.

Should talk about Federal Pacific Electric panels. My insurance company said they wouldn't even insure the home with that box in the house.

Great video and thanks for advice !!!!

Great Insight.. Electrician from Kenya!

“Proper connectors used” as he pointing at 4 romex cables installed in one MC twin

Does asbestos wiring have to be replaced entirely? My house was built in 1947 w a full basement 1st floor and 2nd floor. I Need to replace the incoming wire from the pole to the outer box. Obviously want to replace two plug receptacles with 3 plug grounded ones. But what are the rules for updating in wall wiring???

I see that you use an electrical outlet tester which is unsuitable for inspection. This type of tester does not give correct information when the neutral wire is connected to the neutral terminal and the ground terminal, which is the method used by some to fool inspectors when the house has recents outlets but not connected to ground. You should use a tester designed for inspections.

While my sister was selling her home the people performing inspection stated that the circuit breaker that had sun shinning on it had to be replaced because it was warm to touch. They turned on all the electric heaters up to highest temperature a hour before this. I had my sister ask the make & model # of IR camera they used. Oops do not own one so we used our finger. Nope. She did not have to replace the panel. Also love how a lazy home inspector can determine the condition of a roof on top of 3 floors while standing at ground level.

Not gonna pull the dead front panel off? Or just trying to discourage homeowners from doing it?

So in America an electrical inspection just involves just looking at the installation? Tou don't test any of the wiring or take readings? I hope this is not the case.

I have a question back in 1970s over earlier or the electricians kept saying aluminum oh my God it’s almost like nobin 2 wiring so if it was bad in 1970 why is it now being used as service to bring in service or aluminum.