I'm turning to you, because I've come to trust you over the years, listening to you every Saturday. I'm terribly worried about the wiring in my 40 year old three bedroom bungalow. Since it's on a breaker system, I assume that some upgrading had been done before I bought the house 11 years ago. Less than a year ago, one of my breakers actually blew and had to be replaced. It seems that my fridge is on the same circuit as a whole bunch of other stuff in the house (including the front porch light!). Even with the new breaker, when the fridge goes on, the lights in the kitchen dim so low, they almost go out before coming back up again.Also in the last week or so, the lights in my living room (a different circuit) have started dimming and brightening for spells of a half hour or so. I'm wondering if I should be thinking of having the house re-wired. What's involved? How much damage could I expect to walls, etc.? What kind of cost would I be looking at? And finally, who do I call, Hydro Ottawa or an electrical company?
Answer:
Getting the house re-wired is almost prohibitvely costly so you should check out a couple of other things first. You may very well have aluminum wiwring and that would cause the problems of dimming and such that you speak of. What you need more than anything else is a qualified electrician to come in and check out all the circuits. With the various modifications you speak of, some things may have been 'series' wired too. An electrician will be able to tell you all about it in a matter of minutes.
