Loose outlets?

How do you know if your outlets are good?  Are the outlets in your home a strong 24ozs of connection strength or are they a weak 16ozs? Do you have a dangerous situation with 10ozs or less. Having loose, broken and damaged outlet is a huge fire risk.  At Generation 3 Electric we go out to several close call fire situations every year that occur because of loose connections at the outlet. So much so, we now use this tension tester to check exactly how bad of a connection an outlet has. Having an outlet professionally replaced is very inexpensive compared to having a house fire. I can only imagine how many of these outlets that have started fires- and instead of the one call to the electrical company there are now several calls being made: One to the fire department, Then to a hotel ,an insurance adjuster, and a general contractor to repair the problem. The general contractor is going to call the electrician so you are best off cutting out the middle men and call your electrician to make sure you are safe.  

A good rule of thumb for outlets is they need to be replaced every 20 years. This should make sense to most people when you think about it. An outlet is mostly made out of plastic. 20 year old plastic become week and brittle. They are no different from any other plastic products you may have purchased in the late 1980 or early 1990. Wait there is one difference:  Broken and weak outlets can cause fire!!