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Your breaker box houses the breakers that control the circuits in your home, shutting them off if they overload or experience similar problems. Your meter box houses your electrical meter that monitors the electricity flowing into your house and measures its use for your utility company.

In some cases, both components are in the same box, but they don’t have to be together. Many homes have them split, with the breaker box inside for easier access and the electric meter outside.

Before the widespread use of PVC, affixing a ground wire to plumbing pipes was generally considered to be an acceptable workaround. Nowadays, not so much. There are plenty of nonmetallic water pipes and fittings out there, so any ground previously provided by the metallic piping would be interrupted in these cases, which is dangerous.

The average cost to hire an electrician is around $350. However, every electrical job varies in scope, materials, and labor involved, so while you will likely pay anywhere between $85 and $1,100 for standard jobs, a project like rewiring a house can cost up to $30,000. You might also pay slightly higher prices if you need emergency work done or if the work involves accessing a hard-to-reach area in your home, like an attic or cramped crawlspace. You should ask your electrician for an estimate before agreeing to the work.

They can vary—a lot. For example, while the EU continues to move toward broader standardization, many different types of outlets still exist from country to country. Some local standards cared about polarization, and some didn’t. It’s similar to other countries around the world.

Generally, you’re less likely to find polarized outlets outside North America. However, alternative plugs and outlets often incorporate precautions so that accidentally touching live prongs on a plug is hard or impossible. You may also find interesting regulations overseas that limit the use of outlets in bathrooms or near sinks to decrease the chance of shock.