As a licensed Dallas electrician, I see a lot of the work other electricians do.  A lot of it is good, high-quality work similar to the work I and my employees do but not all of it is, unfortunately.  Just like any other industry, there are plenty of bad deals and scam artists preying on customers looking for a good deal.  The slow economy doesn’t get rid of these phony electricians either.  If anything, it makes them come out of the woodwork as people try to save money by using less expensive services.  So, how do you avoid electrician scams?  Obviously, it can be really difficult to detect some scams, but here’s some important tips that can help:

Above all, remember that taking risks with your electrical work isn’t a good thing.  You wouldn’t tell your friend or boss to use a shifty electrician.  So why put your own loved ones through it. Don’t use a service company you wouldn’t recommend to others?

When you walk in the door of your home at night, you expect to be relatively safe. You expect the home to be constructed well and to protect you from the elements. Your home keeps you warm in the winter and cool in the summer. It is where you spend time with your family and feel the most comfortable. That is the idea at least. Unfortunately, there are often hidden dangers in the home that need to be addressed. It only takes a few changes to make your home a little safer. These are things your Los Angeles electrician can help you with. The team at The Electric Connection has a trained staff of electricians ready to help you make your home a little safer for you and your family.

Installing GFCI Outlets

These are standard features in recent construction, but older homes were not equipped with GFCI outlets explains an electrician in Los Angeles. These outlets are specially designed to be used around areas where water is at, like the bathroom and kitchen areas. The outlets will trip the breaker the second the flow of electricity is interrupted by water. This will prevent an electric shock.

Hard-Wired Smoke Detectors

These are an ideal option to the standard battery-powered smoke detectors. A hard-wired smoke detector will need to be installed by an electrician. Los Angeles homeowners will love the fact that the smoke alarms are wired directly into the home’s power and do not rely on batteries. If a fire breaks out and the smoke detector alerts, it will trigger the rest of the smoke detectors that have been hard-wired into the main power system.

These are two fairly simple, basic upgrades that can make your home a little safer for you and your family. Give The Electric Connection a call today and schedule your outlet upgrades and smoke detector installation.

A master electrician is the highest level certification an electrician can have. In order to earn this designation, an electrician must not only be licensed by their state or the District of Columbia, but also complete extensive training and testing as well as meet experience and on-the-job requirements.

When you hire a master electrician for your project in Maryland, Virginia, or Washington, DC, you can be assured that you’re getting the best of the best!

It takes time, experience, education, and commitment to become a master electrician. While the exact requirements vary slightly between Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC, all master electricians must typically:

When you hire a master electrician, you know that you’re getting service from a contractor that’s experienced, knowledgeable, and fully trained and licensed. Getting and keeping this designation shows this person’s commitment to his or her trade and to doing the best possible job. A master electrician has experience in a wide variety of projects and is able to supervise a team of journeyman electricians, so you can be assured that, even on a large, complex project, you’re getting the best and safest electrical work possible.

To hire a master electrician to work on your Maryland, DC, or Northern Virginia home, we invite you to call Kolb Electric at 877 287-1179. We’ve been helping local homeowners like you with their electric needs since 1925. We offer same-day service, seven days a week and have master electricians on staff to guarantee you the best possible service.

Bulbs, Fans and Dryers

Among the highlights of the show were hyper-efficient LED bulbs manufactured by a company called Stack Lighting. But LED isn’t a new technology, you say? True, but the Stack models automatically change their brightness to account for other light sources and human activity, resulting in what the company claims is a 60 to 80 percent savings in energy compared to standard LEDs.

Another firm, aptly named Big Ass Fans, claims to sell the most efficient ceiling fans in the world. Just like the LEDs, they have smart features that turn the fans on and off when humans enter and leave the room, in addition to boasting high-efficiency motors.

Major appliances showed up at the fair as well. Whirlpool had a dryer on display that the company claims uses 73 percent less energy than standard models because it reuses its hot air instead of dispersing it outside through the vent.

DVR, RAM and Windows

Not impressed yet? The CES Green Guide describes some of the other environmentally-friendly devices and gadgets at the show:

Hefty Price Tags

Like most cutting-edge technologies, the sticker prices of the equipment were sky-high. However, the purchasing costs should come down over time as more people adopt the technologies.

 “You’ll see the price come down, you’ll see more entrants in the market," Carolyn Weiner, a Pacific Gas and Electric employee who specializes in energy efficiency incentives, told PRI. "It’s good that these companies are out there, because they’re starting to show that the technology exists.”

However, Weiner noted that companies often shy away from hawking the efficiency benefits of their products. It turns out that consumers’ attitudes and motivations regarding energy efficiency aren’t always straightforward, even if the prospect of saving money seems simple enough.

“They’re still looking at energy efficiency as 'I’m losing something,’” Weiner said to PRI. “More companies are leading with security, comfort, ease of use, which is the type of message that consumers want to hear right now.”