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Fire & Water - Cleanup & Restoration

Fire Damage: How It Affects Electrical Wiring in Your Home or Business

3/30/2022 (Permalink)

 outlet box in a home on the wall that is on fire No matter how bad the fire damage may be, your local experts at SERVPRO of Rutherford County are ready to help you immediately when you need us!

If your home or business experiences a fire, the last thing you want to worry about is the electrical wiring and cables. Unfortunately, this is something that you will need to deal with as part of the fire damage restoration process. Electrical wiring can be damaged by high heat, smoke, and soot from a fire, and can cause dangerous situations if not repaired properly. In this blog post, we will discuss how fire damage affects electrical wiring and what you need to do to restore it safely.

In modern-day homes, you will most likely run into two types of electrical wiring. Copper is the most common type and is found in most homes built before 1990. Aluminum wiring was more popular in homes built from the 1960s to the 1980s, and is now less common due to its tendency to overheat and spark fire damage.

Copper melts at 1984°F, and the temperature of a house fire can reach temperatures as high as 3000°F-3500°F.

However, the real problem when it comes to electrical fire damage is the plastic insulation and jacketing that surrounds the wires and electrical cables. These are typically designed to survive temperatures up to 194°F, which is well below average temperatures in a house fire.

So as the temperature of a house fire rises, the plastic begins to expand, stretch out, and melt. This non-conductive plastic coating is meant to prevent wires from touching each other and causing a spark or short-circuit. However, once the coating is melted, it can no longer serve its purpose, and wires can easily touch each other, creating a dangerous spark.

This is why your local fire restoration experts at SERVPRO of Rutherford County carefully assess property damage to determine how hot the fire could have become in different areas of your home. This way, our fire repair experts can be sure to remove exactly what is needed.

In addition to the fire itself, smoke from a fire can also cause damage to electrical wiring. Smoke contains soot and other debris that can coat the wiring and insulation, causing it to deteriorate over time due to smoke's naturally acidic nature.

That is why our trained fire restoration technicians make sure to carefully clean up all smoke damage after a fire because damage may occur much later on.

If your home or business has been affected by a fire, our technicians are ready to respond immediately.

Call today! (615) 849-9794

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