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Full home electrical inspections are mandatory if you’re buying a new home, but if you’re just looking for a safety checkup, you have some flexibility. If you don’t have any concerns and your property is relatively new, a basic inspection is usually sufficient. If it’s been a long time since your home was last inspected, or it’s an older home, a full home inspection can help catch any concerns that may fly under the radar.

Unless you’re a licensed electrician, you should not DIY any electrical work in your home. Working with wires and electricity is potentially dangerous to both you and the structure you’re working on, and it could lead to house fires or electric shock if you’re not 100% sure what you’re doing. There’s a big difference between changing a light switch cover and rewiring an entire home. If you’re staring down a potentially difficult electrical job, give a pro a call.

The standard copper wire gauge to use with any 30-amp circuit is a 10-gauge wire. The National Electric Code specifies a 10-gauge wire with appliances like water heaters running on 30 amps. If you try to use a smaller gauge wire, such as a 12 gauge, with a 30-amp breaker, you run the risk of the wire overheating and melting or causing a fire. Because of the safety hazards, the gauge of the wire is not an area to try to cut costs when connecting a 30-amp breaker to a water heater.

A correctly installed 3-way switch will not trip a breaker. If using a 3-way switch trips your circuit breaker, the ground wire might be touching something it should not be, there could be a short in the wiring, a wire could be loose, or the wrong wires are connected to the wrong locations on the switch. If you cannot easily see the problem, such as a loose wire, contact an electrician to fix the issue.