Short circuiting

If the plastic insulation of the live wire and neutral wire gets torn, then the two wires touch each other. This touching of the live wire and neutral wire directly is known as short-circuiting. The current passing through the circuit formed by these wires is very large and consequently a high heating effect is created which may lead to fire.

Overloading

The current flowing in domestic wiring at a particular time depends on the power ratings of the appliances being used. If too many electrical appliances of high power rating are switched on at the same time, they draw an extremely large current from the circuit. This is known as overloading. Due to this large current flowing through them, the copper wires of household wiring get heated to a very high temperature and may lead to fire.