A beginner’s guide to wiring your home

Wiring your home could be one of the most exhausting tasks, if you have no idea about wiring, electricity and your needs. If you are planning to build your dream house very soon, or thinking of rewiring, then this article might just be the information you need to know.

1. Load calculation

It is better to postulate your electrical needs before you even buy wires for your home. Make a list of electrical appliances, like air conditioners, water heaters, washing machine, dryers, dishwashers, clothes iron and other appliances that you use in your household. Check out the capacity of each appliances in watts. Work out the average usage in terms of numbers of hours per day. Finally, define the number of days per year, the appliance is going to be operated. Multiply these three values and divide the total by 1,000 which would then give you the number of kilowatt hours (kWh). Keep in mind your future requirements as well. By calculating the kWh, you can choose the gauge of your wire.

2. Place your concealed conduit PVC pipes in position

This is the second and most important part of wiring your home. Mark the points where you want to have any power points, electrical outlets, modular boards and distribution boards.

This method generally involves chiselling of walls, and placing of the conduit pipes in position.

Concealed conduit PVC pipes not only look aesthetically appealing, but also reduce the chances of getting electrocuted. Don’t forget to maintain a Single Line Diagram (SLD) of your wiring and pipes, as it would be required for any other civil or electrical work you may undertake in the future.

Image Source : ndplpipes.licii.com

3. Colour coding of wires

This is by far one of the most important factors required for rewiring your home. Colour coding of wires help you recognise or identify the cables even if you look at them after years.

Finolex Wires come in various different colours from red, green, blue, black, yellow, etc. If you have a lot of wiring going around, a different colour for different operation is the best. You can never get confused between which wire was for which appliance or socket.

Image Source : Finolex

4. Passing wires through the pipes

Now as per your requirements, pass the wires from ceilings, walls etc., to your master distribution box. Make sure that the wires are tied together, and you pass them with the help of a GA wire.

Image Source : Wikihow

5. Earthing 

Earthing is a must to ensure safety to human life as well as to protect your electrical appliances. So why should one earth? Let us take an example where an electrical appliance in your home develops a fault, say your washing machine, the current would travel down the earthing path. Without the earthing connection done, the outer metal body of the washing machine would become live. And by just touching the machine, one could get an electrical shock.

6. Fixing the switchboard

At this point, you would need to add your switches, sockets, fan regulators, maybe even light dimmers to your switchboard. Check out the range of elegantly-crafted switches and modular switchboards available at Finolex.

Image Source : Finolex

All in all, this gives you a very good understanding of what all goes into house wiring. Remember, in all your decisions with regards to load, switches, and wires, think ahead and make provisions for future requirement as well. And most importantly, take safety measures when handling live wires, and ensure all electrical products you buy have high safety standards.