What is Overloading In Home Electricals?

What is Electrical Overload?

Electrical overload happens when more than the needed current flows through the circuit. It is much more than the wiring can take.

For e.g. in a living room, of a standard size, the switchboard contains about ten switches. The switch board includes switches to lights, fans, fancy lights, etc. Now if the connection of the AC, dining area light, microwave, toaster, etc. is done on the same circuit as lights and fans and a wire of 20A is used to attach all of them, electrical overload is bound to happen.

Extreme electrical overload causes the production of heat that may damage the electrical appliance or in the worst case lead to fire and spoil house interior designs.

There are other effects of electrical overloading such as short circuit. Many homeowners believe that a short circuit only occurs when the socket or the wire is touched. It is a misinterpretation. A short circuit is not bound by wire or socket touching. It can occur in a wire anytime.

If the homeowners hear strange sounds like “char-char-char” in the room, then most likely it is a short circuit that happens because of electrical overload.

Homeowners think that the wires are covered with PVC, and therefore, there is no reason to worry. It is true to some extent. The wires are coated with PVC or fire resistant material; however, there are some drawbacks too. When there is an overflow of current the coating along with the wire gets heated up. There comes a time when the wire gets heated up more than the temperature it can bear, and it starts burning and causes a short circuit, and in extreme cases, it may even lead to a fire and damage interior home design.

Thus, to prevent overload it is advised that the homeowners opt for distinct circuits for distinct rooms and even for the heavy electrical appliances such as AC, microwave, refrigerator, etc. In such cases, the current is distinguished in the desired manner. The wires used in concealed wiring are between 2.5 to 4 sq.mm and nothing more than that. For a 2 tonne AC, the most suitable wire is 4 sq.mm.

However, to control fires and short circuits fuse, circuit breakers, current limiters, etc. are fixed to prevent damage to the home interior designs.