Home electrical circuits may incur a number of problems. Among these are:
* Faulty wiring within the house
* Too many lamps or appliances on a single circuit
* Defective wall switches or receptacles
* Defective cords or plugs
* Defective circuits within appliances
Short circuits happen when a hot wire touches a neutral or ground wire; the extra current flowing through the circuit causes the breaker to trip or a fuse to blow.
Sometimes it’s difficult to tell the difference between an overloaded and a short circuit. For how to pinpoint the problem, see How to Trace a Short Circuit or Overload. Never work on a live circuit, fixture, receptacle, or switch! Use an electrical circuit tester to make sure a circuit is not active after you have shut off the power—sometimes more than one circuit is wired through a box. (For more about this, see How to Safely Test an Electrical Circuit.)
