Wiring in a house or apartment can last about 25 years. After which it needs complete or partial replacement. Otherwise, there may be a fire, malfunction of outlets, and electric leakage. Modern wiring stress associated with the huge number of used electrical appliances, requires replacement even earlier than the specified period.
In private, panel or brick houses The service life of the wiring is practically the same, and depends only on the load and the quality of the materials used. Before carrying out work, you should find out how to replace the wiring, as well as what materials and tools to use.
Over time, even high-quality electrical wiring in a new private or multi-story building begins to deteriorate. Certain areas may deteriorate sooner than others, so you may need to partial replacement.
There are several signs that indicate the need to completely replace the wiring with a new one. These include:
These signs indicate the need to urgently replace the old electrical wiring to prevent fire or other dangerous consequences.
It is worth immediately noting that partial replacement of electrical wiring is ineffective and irrational. TO this method can only be used as a temporary measure. The wiring should be changed completely so as not to return to this issue for 20-25 years. A complete replacement of electrical wiring includes replacement of the panel, sockets and switches.
In some cases, replacing electrical wiring with a new one is impossible. Therefore, you will have to cut off the old lines and lay the wiring along a new one. To make a decision, you need to evaluate the wiring diagram.
For example, in typical Soviet-era buildings, the wiring ran along the floor in special grooves, and a wooden or parquet floor was laid on top. Wires to sockets and switches ran under the plaster or in the voids of the floors. IN in this case Replacing the wiring is impossible without having to remove the floor and plaster on the walls. Therefore, you will have to cut off the old wires and lay new ones in more convenient places.
The easiest way is to replace the wiring open type. In this case, replacement can be carried out even without the need for repairs.
Therefore, one should first evaluate old scheme electrical wiring, in order to understand which places can be used when replacing, and which ones cannot, and only after that make a decision. If you are planning a major renovation of an apartment or private house, it is better to install new wiring to make switches and sockets in the most convenient places for use.
Complete replacement of old electrical wiring is a rather complex process, which also includes drawing up a plan for the passage of new wires. This plan must be agreed upon with a professional electrician to avoid any complications in the future.
Preparation for replacing electrical wiring is the most critical stage of work. It includes the following work:
The purchase of wire should be carried out only after the length of the cable route has been accurately measured. When calculating it, allowances should be taken into account so that there is exactly enough wire. Additionally, you need to stock up on rag tape. Replacing wiring in a house with your own hands is a rather complicated process. Therefore, if the preparation stage has already caused difficulties, it is better to entrust the work to professional electricians.
Electrical replacement must be carried out in such a way that there are no future failures or network overvoltage. The power of the electrical network must be designed for all appliances in the house. The power depends on the cable cross-section, so to determine it it is necessary to calculate it:
If the calculation results in a number in the range of 12–15, then you can use wiring with a cross-section of 1.5 mm. sq. As a rule, for standard apartment or a small private house, this indicator is normal.
But in some cases it is necessary to install a larger cross-section wire or divide the wiring into 2-3 lines. Using a thick cable may cause malfunctions, so last option is preferred.
Replacing electrical wiring with your own hands requires strictly following the stages of work, as well as following all the recommendations of experienced electricians. Only in this case you can not only get decent result work, but also carry out the wiring so that it does not cause a fire.
When replacing old electrical wiring in a home, the electrical system in the home must be turned off. But it is needed for the operation of electrical appliances. In this case, you should make a temporary repair shed. It consists of structures made of plastic or wooden beam, extension cord and socket. This design is connected to an external meter to completely de-energize an apartment or house.
Dismantling of electrical wiring is carried out only after the electricity in the apartment is completely turned off. It is better to use a multimeter to check. Dismantling begins from distribution boxes installed under the ceiling. It is necessary to open the box, find and remove the input wire. If its removal is not possible, it is recommended to trim it as far as possible and isolate it. The remaining wires are also dismantled using this principle.
Walls can be chipped horizontally and vertically. If the work is carried out carelessly and the grooves turn out crooked, this can lead to future emergency situations.
It is best to determine the boundaries of the grooves using a hammer drill, and then manually align them with a chisel. In those places where it is necessary to make an angle, it is necessary to make an oblique cut and knock out a hole. This is best done with a grinder. The absence of corners will allow the cable to lie flat and avoid bends that lead to breakage and damage to the wire.
To create holes in brick walls, into which the socket boxes will be inserted, you can use a crown placed on the hammer drill. For concrete walls, such a tool will be ineffective, so it is best to use a chisel.
Holes for socket boxes must be made in places where they will be convenient for use. Their locations should be determined at the stage of creating the drawing. Sockets for air conditioners, hoods and other stationary appliances should be placed as close as possible to the place where the electrical appliance will be installed in order to hide the cord.
Before laying wires, it is necessary to prepare the sections required size, as well as corrugations for them. After which the wires should be tightened into corrugations and installed in pre-prepared grooves. The ends of the wires must be inserted into the socket boxes.
After laying the wires, the socket boxes and grooves must be covered with solution. Then insert the wire into the electrical panel and lubricate it with thermal conductive paste. Connections must be strong and reliable. The shield must be attached to the wall using dowels.
The temporary shelter should be turned off, the wires from the meter and grounding should be routed into the panel. After which it is necessary to isolate the wire from the meter and place it in the electrical panel. Ready design It is necessary to carefully fix it, after which you can plaster the walls and further decorative finishing.
Replacing old electrical wiring ends with installing socket boxes, sockets, switches and lighting fixtures.
An important step in replacing electrical wiring is to check each branch of wires using a short circuit tester. To do this, you need to turn on the electricity, then apply current and use the indicator to find phase and zero. This will make it possible to lead the necessary wires to the appropriate terminals.
After inserting the wires into the desired terminals, it is recommended to check them again for a short circuit. If there are no problems, you can turn on the main circuit breaker and supply electricity to your house or apartment. All that remains is to check the operation of all sockets, lamps and switches.
And only after this can you begin to finish the walls and other renovation work. Otherwise, it may be necessary to re-drill the walls to identify places where the wires are poorly connected.
To ensure that replacing electrical wiring in a private house or apartment does not cause problems in the future, you should: Special attention pay attention to the placement of electrical equipment in various rooms. This must be taken into account at the drawing stage. This will allow you to complete the work as efficiently and quickly as possible, as well as ensure ease of use of sockets and switches. Therefore, it is extremely important to understand how to change the wiring in all areas of the house.
Despite the small size of the room, replacement old wiring in the bathroom and toilet can cause difficulties. It's connected with high level humidity. If the work is done poorly, you may get an electric shock. And if in another room it is harmless, then humidity, wet and slippery floors can make it fatal for a person.
In addition, equipment is installed in the bathroom high power. It's about about water heaters, washing machines and dryers. And the wiring must guarantee their stable operation.
Therefore, when replacing old electrical wiring in a bathroom, the following conditions must be met:
If the toilet is not combined with a bathroom, the wiring in it is limited only to the lighting branch for the lampshade. Therefore, the wiring can be combined with the bathroom.
When laying wiring in the kitchen, it is recommended to use two branches. One of them can come from the bathroom, and the other should be separate. For electrical wiring, use a wire with a cross-section of 4 mm. sq. In this case, the wire must be in a special protective sheath. During the preparation process, the following connection points should be noted on the drawing:
For lighting working area It is not recommended to take out a separate branch. Not only does this not comply with safety regulations, but it also makes no sense economic point vision. One point can be dedicated to turning on a toaster, blender, multicooker, coffee maker and other equipment that is turned on a short time. For the refrigerator, you should select a point that is located on the opposite wall from the points for other appliances. In addition, all sockets must be at least 60 cm away from the sink.
To wire the corridor, two branches are required - for lighting and sockets. If the corridor is long, you will need to install several lighting points. In addition, it is in the corridor that switches for the bathroom, kitchen and living rooms. In some cases, it is advisable to install sconces near front door. Lighting fixtures, switches and additional sockets for the corridor should be thought out before the electrical wiring begins.
There are special requirements for the quality of replacing old electrical wiring in a nursery. If the child is small, sockets and switches should be installed at a level not lower than 180 cm from the floor. It is also best to use special devices with a protective disk that will protect small children from electric shock.
It is recommended to use separate branches for lighting fixtures, sockets and switches. A separate line can be used to switch on household appliances, for example, a heater, TV or computer.
For the bedroom and living room, you should also use three branches of wiring: for sockets, lighting and household appliances. In the bedroom, an additional branch of electrical wiring may have power adjacent to the children's room.
To replace electrical wiring in a three-room apartment, you will need to use approximately 15 branches. It is not recommended to use a separate branch to install the air conditioner. It must be plugged into an outlet installed near it. This is a safety requirement.
Major renovation of a house or apartment is a troublesome and expensive undertaking. Therefore, many owners refuse to replace electrical wiring in order to speed up repairs and save money. However, major home repairs are carried out quite rarely, so during this time the wiring most often becomes unusable and becomes unsafe.
Replacing electrical wiring in the house - difficult task even for an experienced person. Therefore, it is important to follow all stages of the work, draw up detailed drawing and also consult an electrician. And if you have any doubts about own strength, it is better to use the services of professionals.
Dismantling electrical wiring is one of the simplest but most dangerous jobs in apartment renovation. Also, dismantling the electrical wiring with your own hands will allow you to understand the electrical wiring of your apartment, which will help with a new installation.
Important! Any work with the apartment’s electrical system, including dismantling the electrical wiring, must be done when the apartment’s power supply is turned off.
Sequentially turn off the circuit breakers, then turn off the input circuit breaker. After disconnecting, walk around the apartment and check with a tester, or better yet, a test lamp in a socket with wires, that there is no voltage in all sockets, and also check that the lighting is turned off. After checking, you can begin dismantling the electrical wiring.
For work, prepare a standard set of electrician tools:
Get started dismantling electrical wiring by removing all sockets. If the wiring is made in plastic boxes along the edge of the floor, series of houses P-3, then after removing the sockets, dismantle these boxes. The boxes will be laid aluminum wires, which are dismantled along with the boxes.
Hidden in concrete walls There is no need to remove the wiring. Only after removing the sockets, bite off the exposed ends of the hidden wires and, just in case, insulate their ends.
Take your time to remove the lighting wires. If the lighting is embedded in the cavities of the ceiling tiles, old wires can help retighten them. To do this, you need to find junction boxes in each room. Most likely they will be in the door area. Open the box, unwrap all the twists and find the wires going to the lights.
If the old wires are laid in the cavities of the slabs, then by hooking up new wiring to them, you can re-tighten the wiring.
Re-wiring in slabs
If re-tightening is not possible, then dismantle the old junction box, insulate the hidden wires and leave them in the wall. Then simply seal the installation areas of the old junction boxes with plaster mortar.
If there is an electrical panel in the apartment and you want to completely change it, then the old panel is dismantled. If the panel was recessed into the wall, then the old place can be used for a new panel. If the shield is installed openly, then dismantling the shield will not cause any difficulties at all.
If the circuit breakers and the input circuit breaker (or batch switch) are installed on the floor, then the old circuit breakers can be dismantled later, when you replace the old circuit breakers with new ones.
Old circuit breakers in the floor panel.
Speaking about the complete dismantling of electrical wiring, I would like to note that by removing all the old wiring, the apartment will be left without electricity, which is not very good, especially since renovation work will take place. There are two ways out of this situation.
First option. Do not dismantle one or two outlet circuits. Accordingly, do not dismantle the circuit breakers of these circuits.
Second option. Completely dismantle the electrical wiring, and build so-called temporary shelters for work needs. A temporary structure is temporary electrical wiring from old or already installed new circuit breakers. Temporary wiring is done openly, with protected cables. Truth about safety precautions construction sites, temporary lighting wiring is done from a 36-volt step-down transformer, and power sockets are located only in power panels and tools are powered through extension cords. If desired, this approach to temporary wiring can be applied in an apartment.
Dismantling the cable is a task that an ordinary person can face when moving into a new apartment, because it is he who is responsible for ensuring safe electrification of his place of residence, because the cable left former owners, may not provide complete electrical safety.
Replacing apartment wiring begins with dismantling the old one. Some people think that removing wires from walls is not a difficult task, but, as a rule, many difficulties arise. For example, few people know how to find a wire hidden in concrete partitions.
In this article we will talk about how wiring is dismantled and some of the subtleties of preparing for it. The question is quite serious, as it concerns eliminating the likelihood of troubles associated with a fire. It is useful to know about this, even if the work is done by the hands of a familiar electrician. After all, you will have to be present and control the process.
First of all, like our Father, you should remember about the mandatory de-energization of the electrical network.
When the power is turned off, it is time to proceed directly to dismantling. Few residents have information about where the common house closet is located, access to which is limited. This is where the interface lies. The electricity supply company is not responsible for the line after the cabinet, and if it carries out dismantling, it will only be done under a contract and for a fee.
So, there are no subscription fee debts, you have already visited the company, completed all the documents, and signed the paper disconnection application. Next, you need to make sure that your network is de-energized, otherwise if you touch a wire cable line, electric shock cannot be avoided.
The power is cut off in the apartment panel. To do this, the input machine and group batchers are turned off sequentially.
Checking the current in the socket is carried out with an indicator - a screwdriver, the light of which signals the presence of current.
A similar device used to check the absence of mains voltage is a multimeter.
Experienced electricians:
The cost of removing each electrical point by the electrical supply company is certainly high. Having previously taken care of the most important thing, disconnecting electric current, and having special tools, you can do the repairs yourself.
However, let us repeat a banal, but at the same time with a deep meaning phrase: It is better to entrust the dismantling of electrical wiring and other similar projects to specialists who have experience. Electricians who specialize in repairing and modernizing existing electrical systems will professionally cope with the task assigned to them. They are trained to follow electrical codes.
Wiring can last approximately 20-25 years before it needs to be replaced. Sometimes it is enough to carry out partial dismantling and replacement of the wiring, but it is better to do it completely and before the maximum service life has finally expired.
The modern load on electrical wiring is such that there is a possibility of failure of even relatively fresh wires and devices. So, due to malfunction of sockets or switches, and more often dimers, current leakage and fire occur.
The decision to dismantle the old wiring due to its unsuitability is understandable, but how and in what way should the work be carried out? There are two options: on your own or with the help of specialists.
If you dismantle it yourself, you should seriously prepare.
First you need to find out what type of wiring yours is:
1. Power outage in an apartment or house. If electricity is needed to operate a power tool, use a temporary cord or extension cord from another power source or neighbor.
2. Checking distribution boxes with a multimeter. If the box cannot be completely removed, then the wires going to it are cut as close as possible. According to this principle, further dismantling of the wire occurs.
3. Remove switches, sockets and lighting fixtures.
4. Removing open-type wiring is simple: attach it to the end of the old wiring new cable and stretch it out. This will immediately replace it with a new one. Dismantling hidden wires is more difficult; you will have to use a circuit diagram and a hidden wiring detector. Then use a hammer drill or grinder.
That's basically all about dismantling the wiring. Do you find the process difficult? We advise you to turn to professionals for help in dismantling and disposing of old wiring.
Call us and we’ll agree on the work at a price that suits you!
