The cold winter months bring many changes to homes and businesses. Some of these changes often involve the electrical needs of each home and business to keep them functioning for safety and protection. Whether it’s hot or cold outside, the electrical wiring in your home or business is affected by the weather.
Your Electrical Wiring in the Winter Time
Even though the winter time brings cold weather and uncertainty of how well your HVAC will hold up, the electrical wiring that keeps your home functioning in the winter time also plays a very big part in how well your home operates. During the winter months the conductors increase the amount of heat used to effectively make the electricity work and if there is ice, the power lines may have an ice build up. This build up can make the ice too heavy for the powerlines to be carried by the poles or the towers, causing the heaviness of the ice to create failure or power outages. Another problem that brings issues to electrical wiring in the winter time is wind. Once too much wind hits the wires, the electricity can fail. A cold gust of wind also cools down the cables during the winter months, making them sag as well as work 10 – 40 percent more in transmitting power. If the winds become too extreme, the lines will sag even more, making them come into contact with each other or the structures around them.
Summertime Electrical Wiring
While electric wiring in the summertime usually holds up fairly well, if electrical wires overheat, the conductors can overwork themselves and cause wires to sag. Overheated electrical wiring can also lead to power outages, causing problems with homes or businesses being overwhelmingly hot or unbearable. However, many companies are skilled and experienced enough to keep an eye on the weather and adjust the length of the power line span as needed.
