Short Circuits and System Overloads

An electrical overload occurs when you have too much demand on a particular circuit. A short circuit occurs when there is an interruption in the path of a traveling current. To better explain these problems, let’s go over some very rudimentary laws of electricity.

Electrical currents travel in a loop like a boomerang. To offer a rudimentary explanation, current travels from its source (the "hot" side of your breaker box) through a hot (aka "live") black wire to a destination such as your lamp, hairdryer or heater. These various destinations are cleverly named "loads" since they load the circuit by demanding a certain number of amps to make things work. The current then returns home through a neutral white wire to the neutral side of your breaker box, called the "ground."

All sounds fairly simple, right? It is, but all wiring must adhere to this path or it can be enormously dangerous. To lead a hot wire, for example, to a load without giving it a neutral path back to its source is an electrical shock or fire waiting to happen. Similarly, to lead a circuit straight back to the ground-side of your breaker box without first attaching it to a load to balance the connection breaks the laws of currents and is a recipe for problems.