About 80% of dwellings were built before the year 1990. While they may have complied with the safety standards at the time of construction, those standards might not be relevant in today’s day and age. Significant changes were made in electrical standards since 1990 and the protection technologies of today were not available or required back then. You must ensure that the standards maintained in such existing accommodations are raised to the electrical safety levels of the current standards.

Understanding the Risks at Existing Accommodation

Extensive safety studies must be carried out in the existing residential buildings to determine the disparity between the required safety standards and the existing safety standards. If the existing standards fall a little short, you must show an urgency to raise the level of safety of these buildings and bring them up to the current standards.

Thankfully, it isn’t too complicated or difficult to do so. You can take small steps to gradually improve the electrical safety through a program of manual safety audits.

3 Ways Current Safety Standards Help in Reducing Electrical Risks

Importance of Verification

The current electrical standards ensure that the new residential electrical installations are safe and that they remain so over their entire lifetime. IEC 60364-6 defines both initial verification of an installation as well as verification of residential dwellings every 10 years. The periodic verification ensures that the fundamental protective measures remain active and reliable.

Recommended Periodic Auditing

There must be periodic auditing to ensure that the safety conditions are up to the mark. The audits need to be simple and based on visual checks. They need to be performed by a qualified auditor, who can then inform the owner of any possible safety issues. The owner will then take responsibility for arranging any necessary repair work. The frequency of inspection can be defined by each country, either by a specific period (e.g., 10 years), or triggered by an event such as the sale or rental of a dwelling.

Out of all of the challenges winter presents, there’s one small, quiet issue that plagues us all on a routine basis. We’re talking, of course, about static shock! Have you ever noticed that little zap is a lot more common in the colder seasons? Have you ever wondered why? If you answered yes to either or both, read on to learn a bit from the Columbia electricians at Kolb Electric!

Need reliable, top-quality electrical services for your home or business? Contact the team at Kolb online today!

There’s probably no one in the world that hasn’t encountered a static shock. It’s that small, surprisingly little jolt that you can often get when stepping out of your car or touching a door handle in your home. But though it seems like a simple incident, static shock (or more specifically static electricity) is actually a lot of science going on all at once.

Put very simply, since to explain it in detail would be, frankly, a bit involved and boring, a static shock is the product of an imbalance in electrical charge. Everything is constantly exchanging electrons.

Everything. All of the time.

And when you happen to be exposed to an insulator, which naturally holds onto electric charge (like rubber, or wool) you basically start scraping charge off of everything around you. This collects on the surface of your body, and the next time you come into contact with a conductor of any type, typically metals, that built up charge will jump to the conductor, producing that somewhat agitating shock.

So why is it that when winter hits, we see a lot more static electricity? The answer is pretty simple, actually! In seasons like summer, moisture in the air called humidity tends to be far higher, and those water molecules actually act as a great grounding barrier, helping you mitigate building an excessive static charge.

But when winter sets in, we see a lot less moisture in the air. And what is there tends to be frozen, thus a solid and no longer part of the air content. This cold, dry air is a breeding ground for static, allowing your body to pull in massive amounts of electrons which will ultimately result in that startling shock.

And did you know your furnace actually makes it worse by sucking out what little moisture your home retains? That means bad times for those of us with a furnace system and wool carpets!

As a Columbia electrician knows well, our winters can get really dry, and really cold, which means wrestling with a lot of static electricity. Looking for ways to reduce your shock factor? Try these tips out:

It’s all about adding a bit of moisture, and avoiding materials that present the properties of an insulator!

We can’t do a whole lot about the static in your home (save maybe some sage advice), but if you’re looking for a trusted team of top-class Columbia electricians for electrical installation and repair, there’s no team better than Kolb! Contact us online to learn more about our electrical services, or to learn more great tips, tricks, and handy info, keep up with our blog!

The summer weather is notorious for spurning some wild thunderstorms. Those storms can result in widespread power outages that leave you and your neighbors sitting in the dark for hours. The power outage may not be the result of a thunderstorm. It could come down to scheduled blackouts if the summer heats up as is predicted. You need to know how to stay safe during a power outage. An electrician in Santa Monica has some valuable tips for you. If you have any more questions, you can always count on the team at The Electric Connection to help you.

1-Call the electric company from your cell phone to determine what the situation is and how long you can expect to be without power.

2-Unplug all appliances and turn off things like the air conditioner, stove and so on. You don’t want to create a power surge when the electricity does come back on. You can have a surge protector installed by an electrician. Santa Monica homeowners who don’t want to risk their electrical equipment being burned out will appreciate the protection a surge protector offers.

3-Use flashlights whenever possible instead of candles. Candles increase the risk of a fire getting started.

4-Put together a small emergency kit and leave it in the pantry. The kit should include things like a radio for listening to weather reports, extra batteries for the flashlight and some extra cash or a credit card for emergencies.

You can avoid the side effects of a power outage by having a generator installed by a Santa Monica electrician. This will serve as your backup electricity source to ensure you always have power. You won’t have to worry about wasting the food in your fridge or worrying about how you will take a hot shower. Give The Electric Connection a call today to learn more about surge protection or a standby generator.