Emergency Electrician in New Gloucester, Maine

Most electrical emergencies in New Gloucester begin with a storm. Ice-laden or wind-snapped limbs fall onto service drops and pull the mast away from the house, crack the meter socket or tear the weatherhead loose. On the older farmhouses and outbuildings, a long overhead run to a barn is another weak point, and a wire pulled down across a pasture or dooryard is dangerous to people and livestock alike. Rodent-chewed wiring in barns and attics is a quieter cause of the same calls, often discovered as a breaker that keeps tripping or a burning smell. Indoors the alarms are familiar ones: an acrid smell at a receptacle or the breaker box, a switch that runs hot or spits sparks, lights that swell and fade, or a main that refuses to stay on.

The utility's job stops at the weatherhead. CMP handles the drop and the meter; from there in, the mast, meter base, entrance cable and panel are the owner's to fix, and after storm damage CMP holds off on reconnecting until they are repaired and inspected. Goodnow Electric takes emergency calls at any hour, makes the equipment safe, repairs it under a New Gloucester permit and books the reconnect, so a house does not sit dark after the road is back on. Pictures taken from a safe spot help both the repair and the insurance adjuster.

Before anyone thinks about repairs, assume every fallen wire is live, keep family and livestock back, and call CMP or 911; in a hayfield or a snowy dooryard a line can lie almost out of sight. Smoke or char marks at the breaker box mean get outside and dial the fire department first. If spring melt or heavy rain has put water near a basement panel, leave the power off until it has been checked. Run portable generators outside only, and never back-feed a house through an outlet, since it can energize the lines crews are repairing.