Angie's LIST Guide to
Electricity and the home
Learn how electricity comes to your home and how to troubleshoot common electrical problems.
Learn how electricity comes to your home and how to troubleshoot common electrical problems.
Top Topics
Many appliances and electrical outlets have their own circuit breakers that you may not realize are there.
Read more about circuit breakers
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Answers
Ask a question on any topic covered by Angie's List and see responses from expert service providers and other homeowners with advice to share. Most popular electrician questions:
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Videos
Household electricity
High-voltage lines like these are the backbone of the U.S. power grid.
From the power plant, electricity is carried though high-voltage power lines, substations, transformers and neighborhood utility poles.
Understanding the physical connections to your home and how the live wires connect to your breaker box.
How electric meters record power usage.
How to find a good electrician
The level of an electrician's training determines what type of equipment he can work on.
In the era of Thomas Edison a new profession was born as electricity was first brought to homes across the U.S. and Europe.
Depending on their level of training, electricians are able to work on increasingly complex and dangerous tasks.
Tips on what to ask when hiring a new electrician, especially for a planned project for which you have time to prepare.
Fuses, circuit breakers and safety
Some older homes still have fuse boxes while most newer ones have breaker boxes.
The most important electrical safety feature in your home may sometimes annoy you because it shuts off power instantly.
Electrical outlets in kitchens and bathrooms often have built-in circuit breakers designed to disable those outlets if they get wet.
In addition to the main breaker panel and marked GFCI outlets, there can be other household safety cut-off features that can be difficult to track down.
Common electrical problems
If you don't have enough outlets, have more installed instead of overloading them.
Regardless of built-in safety features, electricity is still dangerous. Know the dos and don'ts of electrical safety.
Symptoms and possible causes of common electrical problems.
What does an electrical inspector look for when examining a house for a prospective home-buyer?.
Solar and backup alternatives
Solar panels can be a good investment even in northern climates.
An explanation of how solar panels convert sunlight to electricity.
How and where solar panels can be installed to be most effective.
In most cases, a solar house should still be connected to the grid, both as a backup source of power and to sell power back to the electric company.