It is estimated that each year around 3,500 Americans die in home fires and 20,000 are injured. A leading type of home fires is the electrical fire. This is especially true in regards to manufactured homes. When it comes to breaker panel fires, there are currently two different brands of panels that have known manufacturing flaws that puts anyone with one of these panels at risk for an electrical fire. Zinsco panels and Federal Pacific Electric panels are known for the dangers that they pose. In addition to these two brands, there are also many people who have panels older than 40 years old that may not provide the protection that is needed to protect their homes properly from electrical dangers. If your home has one of these panels, you should get in touch with an electrician in Pasadena right away to ensure that the proper steps are taken to safeguard you and your family.

Federal Pacific Electric Company (FPE) Panels

The FPE was one of the largest circuit breaker panel manufacturers in North American from the 1950s to the 1980s. As time went on, many electricians discovered the dangers that these panels posed to the families that they were supposed to protect. It is now known that FPE panels may appear to work for many years, but can overheat and become a fire hazard after only one short circuit or overcurrent.

If you have a breaker that fails to trip whenever it is supposed, it can allow an incredible amount of electricity to enter your home from your electrical utility company. Whenever this happens, it can lead to severe overheating and electrical fires. As a result, many panels such as these older FPE panels can eventually catch on fire, leading to a very serious issue for any homeowner.

Zinsco Panels

Zinsco panels were also very common at one point in time. Although there are not many of them remaining, they can be very dangerous in the modern setting. These panels are simply not designed to handle the amount of electricity that we use every day.

For more information on electrical panels, (Click Here), or to schedule an electrical panel upgrade, call our team at The Electric Connection today.

One of the most unique light paintings I’ve seen, this image has a fluidity that causes the brain to confuse light for matter. It is neato. What makes it neato? Well, I think it’s mostly neato because the way the lines are painted makes the light seem like it has taken form and is alive.

3. Sphere of the Open Water

I do not understand how some light painters are able to create such perfect perforated light beams. But I like it. Light painting is able to create such perplexing images. How is one to feel about the image of a lonely self-circling disc of multi colored light? It’s a little sad. But also a lot of fun. That’s weird. And maybe that’s the particular weirdness of light paintings.

5. Or, Then Again, Maybe This Is the Particular Weirdness of Light Paintings

At least, that’s what my two-year-old would call this photo. What a great idea to take a long exposure of a car and to keep it underexposed, knowing that the brightness of the light “paintbrush” would balance out the composition. I chose this example because it emblematizes the way light painting adds imagination to reality.

7. The Whole Light Paint Bucket

First of all, if you don’t get the title’s reference, then don’t worry about it. It’s a video game thing. Second of all, if you have any kind of interest in photography but spend a lot of time working indoors, you’ve probably tried taking pictures of inanimate things around your office. (OK, so I’m talking about myself.) Chances are, you haven’t had much luck. The pics were probably more fun to take than to examine, and they have probably been long since lost in the black matter of erased data. In other words, the photos weren’t good. But this one happens to be really awesome. It’s fun and very cool looking. Hadukin! Hadukin to bad office still lifes! Hadukin to darkness! Ha. Du. Kin.

If you’re searching for a way to control your lighting from anywhere and without flipping a switch, Wi-Fi LED lights are the perfect products. With a Wi-Fi LED Controller Hub, you can control compatible LED bulbs, LED flood lights, and LED strip lights with your Android or iOS-enabled smartphone or tablet. The Milight 3.0 app, along with a Wi-Fi compatible controller when necessary—allows you to power lights on and off, control multiple zones of lights, select from thousands of colors, choose from various single-color and color changing modes, and control brightness and speed.

Wi-Fi compatible flood lights are great for landscape lighting, tree uplighting, architectural wall washing, and other outdoor applications. These LED landscape lights are available in 30- and 50-watt versions and have separate LEDs for either white or colorful illumination. They plug into a standard 3-prong outlet and can be easily connected to a Wi-Fi hub. Connect multiple lights to the hub, and synchronize their color, brightness, or mode with your smartphone or tablet.

We’re excited to announce the addition of six new off-road LED light bars to our SBL series product line. The 12″, 30″, 50″ light bars are equipped with two rows of powerful LEDs that emit anywhere from 1,100 to 10,000 lumens depending on the length of the bar.  These heavy-duty light bars can be used for many applications, including off-road driving lights, daytime running lights, or fog lights on trucks, ATVs, or UTVs as well as for work lighting, industrial lighting, marine lighting, and tractor lighting.

LEDs in these light bars emit either a wide flood beam or a combination spot/flood beam pattern for focusing on long- and short-range distances simultaneously.

Your home is supposed to be your safe place, your sanctuary, but if you have an older home, it can quickly become a nightmare. Old home wiring, especially if the wiring is 50 years or older , can put your home and everyone it it at risk for an electrical fire. While wiring doesn’t quickly age, it does age, it does break down, and it does carry risks. Keeping an eye on your home’s wiring and the way that it behaves is one of the best ways to avoid an electrical fire and protect your home. Your home is trying to tell you exactly what it needs more often than not, so keep an eye out for some of the following signs that your home’s wiring is too old and needs to be replaced by a professional electrician.

While there could be a variety of reasons you might have dimming or flickering lights in your house, if it becomes a regular occurrence, it’s time to get an electrician out to your house. These kinds of symptoms are your house telling you that there is something going on in your electrical system. Whether it’s that there is too much power being drawn at one time or that the wiring is failing, a licensed electrician can help to diagnose and fix the issue.

If you’ve had a rodent problem in your home at any time, it’s exceptionally important to have your electrical system evaluated. While rodents would prefer to munch on the cereal in your cabinet, there is something about home wiring that is exceptionally appealing to them. While they’re burrowing around in your walls, there is a high chance that they either chomp through wiring or knick it enough to expose the wiring to the insulation in your walls. Both scenarios can put your home at risk for an electrical fire at any time.

If you’ve never had a circuit breaker trip on a regular basis, then you probably don’t know how absolutely frustrating it can be, especially when the problem is probably hidden somewhere behind the walls. A circuit breaker that continues to trip is a big indication that something is wrong with your wiring. Instead of trying to force it on, make sure to call your electrician to help root out the cause of the problem in order to fix it.

If you’ve ever gone to plug in an appliance and been shocked, that’s probably not a good sign. However, if this happens regularly where you get shocked or your switches and outlets start to look discolored from burns, you have a big problem on your hands. These signs are indicative of a wiring problem and wiring shorting from the energy heavy appliances that are more common today. Don’t just hide the problem with a new outlet cover, have the problem checked out and repaired.

Lastly, don’t dismiss random burning smells or the sharp smell of burning ozone. Both could be indicators that something is going on behind your home’s walls that you can’t see. When you flip a light switch, this connects a live electrical wire and allows power to continue into a light fixture or appliance. If there is burning when the switch is flipped on, the odds are the problem is in the wiring that connects the switch and the light fixture. However, a licensed electrician can determine the extent of the damage and what the problem is.