How can I stop being paranoid my house will burn down due to an electrical fire? I live with my parents and mainly 2 outlets worry me, One needs a small cardboard piece to hold up an outlet because it's slightly loose on the top, and the second one which really worries me is when we got a new washer and the guy who was installing it pushed our freezer in the basement out of the way as it was pugged in and I heard a loud noise and I'm convinced he fucked up the outlet internally somehow. That happened about a year ago now, and the outlet seems fine although the outside is slightly crooked/titled. I can't order an electrical inpsection because I'm not the homeowner I'm worried about all my stuff being burnt. How can I ease my worries? I don't think my parents want to get an electrical inspector sadly :(
>>34902281Maybe you should hire an electrician.
>>34902290I'm not the homeowner and don't have permission from my parents who I still live with. I need to live with them because it's way cheaper than moving out and affording college somehow
>>34902295True, I didn't even read the whole post. Anyway, why don't you just buy a fire extinguisher for $20?
>>34902298No worries anon. We do have a few, I'm more worried for when nobody is in the house.
>>34902306You could buy a fireproof safe to store anything valuable. If it's your computer then get an SSD and backup everything and put it in there. I doubt there's much you have to worry about losing.
>>34902315The main stuff I'm worried about are my anime figure collection, my manga collection ( has some rare stuff I can't replace, and my fumos. I can't really put those in a safe because they're delicate :(
>>34902345You'll have to risk it until you save up enough to move into a van by the river
>>34902281>anon doesn’t own a screwdriver to tighten one outlet nor loosen cover to inspect damage to other outlet>anon is scared of magic box in wall that charges phone and makes TV and computer make magical light
>>34902354My birthday is coming up, I might just ask them to hire an inspector for it
>>34902379>implying I haven't tried to tighten it and ignoring context of post where the guy installing furniture made the outlet make a weird noise >implying house fires aren't a real concern
>>34902281Check that both outlets are actually in electrical boxes. That means take off the outlet faceplate and check to see that the outlet itself is inside some kind of plastic box. If so, greatz that box will contain any fire for a good amount of time. Buy two fire extinguishers and two smoke detectors, put one of each in the same rooms as the outlets you are worried about. You now have a system to respond to any fire before it gets serious
>>34902994Oh, and if the outlets are sitting in plastic or metal boxes, hire an electrician
>>34902994>>34902996Thanks for the advice anon this is very good :)Just a bit confused though is it good if they are in plastic boxes? Also I can't hire an electrician because I'm not the homeowner sadly. I might wait until my birthday and ask my parents for an inspection as a gift. To keep my mind at ease. As of now they've been fine for about a year so I think I'll be fine. I get worried about them periodically sometimes
Can you Show a picture I am a electrician apprentice I wasn't taught alot but I know some things
>>34904409My phones camera is broken sadly :(
>>34902281HVAC tech here, but I do a lot of electrical. For fhe first is the box itself loose or just the cover?And for the 2nd, have you ever looked under the cover, or seen burn marks around the prongs? HARD maybe on a loose connection, my bet is that they just plugged things in weird and it arc'd.
>>34904701Same guy hereWorth asking, where in the world are you? I'm great with 120v/american style outlets but could figure out the other styles.
>>34902281flip the breaker and take the cover off and check it out. Fix the crooked one or have your dad do it. I don't know what country your in and what the wiring looks like there but if the wires are secured correctly, I don't think you have much to worry about.
>>34904701One of them seems like the box is barely lose ( the cardboard one ) the second one is inside the cover but it's tilted slightly. Phone camera is broke so can't take a picture but it looks like this https://www.reddit.com/r/AskElectricians/comments/1mnf6oa/every_non_standard_outlet_i_wire_in_comes_out/>>34904705I'm in NY usa>>34904803Dad won't want to help with this so I might try myself but im worried about messing up
>>34904850So anyone else correct me if I'm wrong here but especially If these are more modern tamper/ ground fault outlets. As long as the wires are hooked up right. The hot, the neutral and the ground. It might look crooked and like shit but its not going to burn down as long as its contain in the inner box. So I personally would just flip the breaker, unscrew the cover and have a look.
>>34904850If it doesn't wiggle it's just mounted kinda crooked; sloppy craftsmanship but harmless. If it does wiggle it's likely only a loose screw; still nothing to worry about.Worst you can do is get shocked or pop the breaker, breakers are easy to reset.
>>34904872If anon is retarded I would really be hesitant to recommend he starts flipping breakers without a voltage testing pen on hand, at minimum. You and I have worked with this stuff, I don't know if OP has any proclivity for working with his hands.
>>34905227Yeah I'm too scared to flip breakers and test voltages. Right now I'm going to trust you guys that it's fine, and I might ask my parents to hire an inspector in a month or so and offer to pay for it.
