5 Electrical Problems That Cause Flickering Lights

5 Electrical Problems That Cause Flickering Lights

You’re in your kitchen cooking, and the lights starts flickering. Suddenly, it feels like you’re in a horror movie. But then you just shrugged it off and turn your attention back to what you were doing. This is the usual reaction of people. Flickering light is merely an annoyance or nuisance. And that is all it is. While it is something can draw comments from you once or twice, over a period of time it becomes a common occurrence that you just dismiss as something harmless. You start feeling that it’s a simple nuisance or a minor problem that you can live with or completely disregard. But make no mistake, once you experience flickering lights, you need to have it checked immediately by a lighting electrician in Brisbane. So, what does it mean when your lights are flickering? Is it something serious? Is there are reason to be worried about flickering lights?

Are flickering lights dangerous?

Flickering lights are not simple issues and they certainly aren’t entirely harmless. The fact of the matter is that it is a sign of another electrical problem in your home. You may think that this is something that’s negligible and will not affect your life, but in truth, it is often a tell-tale sign that there is an underlying problem with your electrical system. As you may already know, electrical problems can be potentially dangerous, each causing real danger and signaling a variety of different issues including electrical overloads, increased electrocution risk, electrical fire hazards, unexpected power surges, and frequent safety switch tripping – especially if flickering happens frequently. These are enough reason to encourage you to get help from a professional as soon as possible. If you don’t know what is causing your lights to flicker in the first place, get in touch with a local reliable electrician to check your electrical system and resolve your issue.

What does it mean when you experience flickering lights?

What are the issues that cause lights to flicker and/or dim in your house? Overloaded Circuit Do you lights start blinking whenever some of your other appliances are running like your aircon, flat iron, or washing machine? If this is the case, then it is highly likely that the issue is that you have an overloaded electrical circuit. Electrical circuits are designed to handle a certain amount of electricity and once the amount of electricity passing through them exceeds their designed capability, the power supply becomes affected. One of the most visible signs of this issue is flickering lights. Some appliances and devices like the air condition system, electric hot plates and electric burners, consume a lot of power in order to operate. This, in turn, affects how much power is left for the rest of your appliances to consume. Thus, affective their performance. And in the case of your lights, they will start to flicker. You can try to space out your appliance usage, but this is not always achievable. One of the best solution to this issue is by expanding your electrical circuits to increase their capacity. Loose and Outdated Electrical Wirings When it comes to electricity, it will always look for the shortest or quickest way towards the ground. The term “path of least resistance” actually refers to this notion. In many cases, this entails “jumping” from the intended circuit, which is why it is crucial for an electrical circuit and wiring to have proper insulation so as to avoid this event. Sadly, as the electrical wiring becomes older, worn-out, outdated, and loose, the possibility of electrical current from jumping out of its intended path increases. Once this happens, a variety of symptoms tend to emerge, and one of these is flickering lights. But, what is more frightening is that this significantly increases the risk of electrocution, as well as the chances of having home electrical fire. When electrical connections get loose, it generates heat, after all, electricity is hot. As time passes, this heat will continue to grow to the point that it will cause further damage to your electrical system as a whole, as well as increasing the previously mentioned fire risk. The best way to handle loose and outdated electrical wirings is by allowing an electrician in Brisbane to check your electrical wirings and connections, once you suspect that loose, old, broken, outdated, and complicated wirings are the reason why your lights keep flickering. Voltage Fluctuations Aside from overloaded electrical circuits, flickering lights may also occur due to voltage fluctuations. The lights in your home are designed to handle a specific amount of voltage to operate, similar to electric circuits. Voltage drops and power surges will cause your lights to flicker. Aside from flickering lights, voltage drops can also cause unexpected dimming. Your home electrical appliances will suddenly stop working, while flickering continues. There will also be consistent flickering of lights once you plug in and turn on your appliance. But it’s not just voltage drops that can affect your lights. Power surges deliver more power to your lights – more power that it’s designed to handle. Thus, causing lights to flicker. In normal settings, lights will be protected by circuit breakers and other means. However, if your lights continuously flicker, then it means that these crucial measures have not been as efficient as they should have been. If you keep experiencing voltage fluctuations, what you should do is to call a professional immediately, so that this can be inspected and fixed. Loose Light Bulb If only a singly light bulb in your home is flickering, then there is a chance that it could just be because the light bulb is loose. So, what you can do is to check if the bulb is tightly fastened to the bulb socket. In other cases, there may be a loose connection in the bulb socket. As stated previously, inconsistent power supply from the main source is a primary reason why light flicker. In most cases, flickering lights are due to problems with the electrical socket or the connection itself. In such cases, what you can do is to simply screw and tighten the bulb socket resolve the issue. If this doesn’t work, you should replace the socket immediately. Please note that before you try to fix the issue, you need to turn off the main light switch and wait for the bulb, socket and wiring to cool down. After which, check if there are loose connections and tighten them if possible. Nevertheless, it is still better to leave this kind of job to a someone with proper tools and the right set of skills to fix the issue. Who knows, an electrician in Brisbane may even determine whether the issue is caused by a loose light bulb or something else entirely. Faulty Light Switches So, you’ve checked your connections and your light socket, those aren’t the cause of the problem. If that’s the case, then why not try checking the light switches. Most of the time, flickering lights are caused by faulty light switches. Old, damaged, and defective light switches should be replaced or repaired immediately because they can cause electrocution. Old, faulty, and/or damaged light switches often leak electricity, shocking anyone who tries to use them. Loose electrical wiring usually causes light switches to become faulty. Usually, when you have a faulty switch, you will hear a buzzing, popping and sizzling sound, apart from flickering lights. What Causes Flickering LED Lights? LED lights operate on a different principle than traditional light bulbs. So, what makes them flicker? Is there cause for alarm? While the principle behind LED lights is different, like traditional lights they also flicker for the exact same reasons. Commonly, flickering has nothing to do with the lights, but with the switches, wires, sockets and circuits that supply electricity to the LED lights. What’s important is that once you notice your lights flickering, you do not dismiss it as something normal. Instead call a reliable, trusted, licensed and registered electrician to check the issue right away. Get in touch with Sustainable Industries immediately! Are You Experiencing Flickering Lights? Contact Sustainable Industries now! Flickering lights, as well as poor quality lighting should always be a major concern, since they will not only affect your comfort, but they could also indicate underlying, more serious electrical hazards in your home. Always make sure that every electrical outlet, lights and appliances are working properly as they should by calling a licensed and registered local dependable electrician for your home. Sustainable Industries provide a wide range or domestic and commercial electrical services in Brisbane. Our team of skilled, experienced, licensed and registered electricians are highly qualified to handle even the most sophisticated and demanding domestic and commercial projects. Sustainable Industries is the go-to electrician for commercial electrical services such as lighting and appliance failure, blown fuse, electrical fires, power failure blackout, electrical inspection and maintenance, and electrical wiring problems and solutions. Whether you are facing an electrical issue like flickering lights or you are thinking of updating your home’s electrical, contact an electrician you can count on. Contact Sustainable Industries! Call Sustainable industries electricians Brisbane today on 1300 772 750 for the best service and advice or you can message us.