It’s officially hurricane season in Charleston, South Carolina.
Transworld, Inc. Electrical Contractor’s Residential Service Manager, Jamel Anderson shares safety tips that will help prepare and protect your home and business’s electrical system this hurricane season.
Do you need an electrician to inspect that your electrical system is prepared for hurricane season?
How to protect your electrical system this hurricane season:
FEMA regulations state that if you are wiring a dwelling in a flood zone or making electrical repairs in a flood zone if it prohibited to use nonmetallic cabling, often referred to as Romex. This type of electrical cable contains a paper filament that becomes an electrical hazard if exposed to water. If the paper filament gets wet, it needs to be replaced. Even if you don’t notice any electrical problems immediately after flooding, you will have damage over time and the wire needs to be replaced to avoid any possible fire hazards. The National Electrical Code, NEC, requires replacing the nonmetallic cabling with UF cable or underground burial cable. This type of cable does not contain any paper filament and is rated for damp environments such as flood zones and crawl spaces.
In addition to ensuring that your electrical system’s wiring is up to code, it is important to check that any devices on the exterior of your home or in a possible flood location are WR (weather resistant) and TR (tamper resistant) rated. If you have an electrician at your home, make sure you check that they are installing TR and WR rated devices.
One last safety tip is to check that all every circuit located in a flood zone dwelling needs to be GFCI, Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter, protected. A ground fault circuit interrupter is the only protection device designed to protect people against electrical shock from an electrical system.
