Knowing when to install a new circuit in your home or business may seem like a daunting task. After all, you’re no electrician, and figuring out the details seems stressful! To which we at Kolb say, “No Problem!” There are specific cases and situations where installing a new circuit is really necessary, and all said it’s pretty clear when you need one. That is, if you know what you’re looking for.

Need a new circuit installation for your home or business? Contact our specialists today!

We’ll skip the science lesson and spare you the details of Ohm’s Law (though it’s fairly interesting reading), and other laws that apply to circuits. What you need to know is that a circuit is a dedicated device that houses electricity reserved for a specific task. Like a circuit for running your fridge, or to plug in your dryer.

A circuit operates in a loop, delivering electricity to the object in need of power, and then returning the electricity to the source (your electrical panel) when on or off. So, why would you need a new circuit? There are two primary cases:

If your circuit is not operating properly, it’s obviously time to seek a replacement. Not doing so can create some serious issues, the least of which is your appliances not running. A busted circuit can present serious dangers to your home, and should be addressed immediately. You can spot one by:

The other common time to get a new circuit installed is when you plan to add new, improved or newly existing appliances to your home. Many common use electrical machines require a lot of power, and plugging them into an existing circuit shared with other items will likely result in breaker flips.

Why? because a circuit is designed to supply a very specific amount of power, via your breaker. If you exceed the limit the breaker places on your circuit, the breaker will flip and refuse to allow the supply. This is why refrigerators, air conditioning, washing and drying machines and microwaves are often given a dedicated circuit.

Kolb has proudly served our area for years, and brings the best service and experience in the industry available. Our certified electricians can offer all of the skill, knowledge and tech needed to get your electrical project done right. At Kolb, your needs are our number one priority. Contact us today to learn more about circuits, and whether or not you may need a new one!

The third prong on a typical electrical appliance plug provides an extra measure of safety against electrical shock. Two-prong outlets, often found in older homes, may not be grounded adequately and should be upgraded.

The National Electric Code requires that GFCI outlets – with Test and Reset buttons – are installed in areas of the home where water may be present, such as your kitchen, baths, utility room, garage and outside locations.

If the wiring for your light switches or outlets is wrapped in cloth sheathing or bits of black rubber, you need to upgrade your home wiring to keep your family safe.

Appliances such as air conditioners, clothes dryers, refrigerators and furnaces use extra electricity when they start. This may be more than just a nuisance. An overloaded system can damage sensitive equipment.

Too much electrical current causes breakers to trip or fuses to melt. Don’t ignore this warning. Have your electrical system inspected and upgraded.

If you need to use extension cords on a regular basis, you probably need more outlets in your home. When you use extension cords to make up for a lack of outlets, you run the risk of placing too much demand on your electrical system. Extension cords placed under rugs or furniture may also be a safety hazard.

Rust on your main electrical service panel indicates a moisture problem, which can lead to further problems.

This may be an indication of a loose or deteriorating electrical connection, which could lead to shock or fire.

If your home is more than 25 years old, you should have your system inspected and if necessary, brought up to electrical code standards.

Fans in the attic? The idea at first may sound odd. We usually think of fans as blowing somewhere in our home where we can feel their effects, like hanging from ceilings or mounted in windows. Few people spend more time in their attic than they absolutely must, so it seems useless to install fans there.

However, attic fans can form an important part of maintaining the overall efficiency of your air conditioning system. If you’ve taken all the steps you can to keep your HVAC system working its best (regular maintenance, duct cleaning, changing the filter, proper insulation), attic fans will take you a step beyond. We’ll explain why putting in attic fans will benefit you.

Attics are both heat traps and heat escape routes. You can use insulation to stop heat from escaping in winter, but what about summer, when heat gathers in the attic and creates excessively high temperatures that will seep into other parts of your home? (Go up into your attic on a hot day and see what it’s like. It can be miserable. You don’t want any of that to get to rooms you actually use.) To stop summer attic heat, you’ll need attic fans.

Attic fans should be wired to a thermostat that will turn the fan on based on the temperature. This saves energy since you won’t have to keep the fan on constantly or continually check on it. The movement of air in the attic will lower the high temperature.

The first benefit is the most obvious: your home will not get as hot during the summer. On average, the temperature in the attic will decrease 50 degrees with a fan, which means a drop of 10 degrees in your house.

This not only translates into comfort, it also means savings on your energy bills. A cooler house requires less work from an air conditioner to cool it. You’ll spend less, and your air conditioner will not receive extra stress that will lead to repairs and possibly an early replacement.

Attic fans will also extend the life of your roof. Rising moisture in your home will get into the roof, eventually creating mold in the insulation and the roof material. In winter, the freezing moisture can be extremely damaging. Attic fans move moisture away and keep it from settling.

stimulating sensors in the eye that then send signals to our internal clock. It also Nobel Prize in Physics. So how can someone suffering from insomnia enjoy the technology that this marvelous invention forged?

“If you can block blue light, you can actually create something called circadian darkness or virtual darkness” says Researcher Dan Pardi in an Studies have shown that by wearing these amber-tinted glasses, you can produce almost as much melatonin as if it were pitch black, even in a fully lit room or while looking at a bright screen on your tv, phone or tablet.

After you’ve been around something for a while, you start to take it for granted.

Things like dissolvable cornstarch packing peanuts.

It took one imaginative 11-year-old boy and an email from a happy customer to remind us just how nifty these little earth-friendly peanuts are.

If you’ve received a shipment from Pegasus Lighting in the past few years, your box most likely had a sticker on it with those words. Inside the box is a note that shares the reasons behind our choice to use biodegradable cornstarch packing peanuts, not the least of which is because they are really fun to play with.

Thank you, Happy Customer, for restoring our packing peanut fascination by sending this great note and photo of your son’s clever art sculpture (whatever you decide that it will be)! Oh, and for the record, I’m voting Rocket Ship.