There is nothing more frustrating then flipping on the light to your room or the kitchen and it won’t come on. Maybe it flickers and pops before going out completely. It not only leaves you in the dark, but it makes you more than a little worried about the safety of your home. Electricity is no joke and you never know what is going on in the ceiling or behind the sheetrock where all of those electrical wires are sitting. It is a scary situation and deserves immediate attention from an electrician. Burbank homeowners who have a light fixture that is giving them fits can call The Electric Connection to get it looked at right away.

A faulty wire or a wire that has shorted out could be causing the problem. The light fixture may be fine, but it isn’t getting the electricity it needs to function. That means those wires that were once feeding electricity to the fixture are sitting behind the light, touching insulation. This is a recipe for disaster and can lead to an electrical fire. The situation must be attended to by an electrician in Burbank as quickly as possible. It is a good idea to flip the breaker that feeds the light to cut off the electricity while you wait for help to arrive.

Some fixtures are truly outdated and the wiring inside the fixture itself may be bad. This is difficult to tell just by looking. Your Burbank electrician will need to perform some quick tests to track down where the problem lies. Once the problem has been identified, you will be given your list of options to take care of it. In many cases, the fixture needs replaced or the wiring to the fixture needs to be fixed. Don’t put off calling an electrician if you have a fixture that is flickering or not working. Give The Electric Connection a call today.

While it’s a festive time of year you spend celebrating with family and friends, Thanksgiving can be stressful and expensive, especially for the person in charge of cooking. There’s the unavoidable cost of ingredients, but even the process of cooking, baking, broiling and roasting pushes your energy bills sky high. Pursue these top five gadgets to make Thanksgiving cooking easier and more affordable this year.

They’re a lifesaver when it comes to cooking multiple dishes at once. Equip your kitchen with several digital timers and set them for precisely the right amount of time each food item needs to cook.

To save energy and make cooking easier, put multiple dishes in the oven at once. As long as the temperature requirement varies by no more than 25 degrees, you’ll be fine. Set separate timers for each dish so they don’t end up over or undercooked.

Also, if your oven doesn’t beep or buzz to let you know it’s preheated, set a timer for five to eight minutes when you turn the oven on. This reminder prevents you from forgetting to put the food in the preheated oven while you’re distracted preparing other dishes. Remember, you don’t need to preheat the oven for broiling or roasting.

This is one of those gadgets you find in every kitchen, but it’s a more useful tool for preparing Thanksgiving dinner than you might imagine. Microwave ovens consume less than half the energy conventional ovens use. They also cook food faster, which saves time. Free up the oven and stovetop by cooking baked potatoes, reheating gravy and warming rolls in the microwave.

Having a second oven on hand lets you get more cooking done in less time, but if you aren’t lucky enough to have a double oven, you can invest in a countertop version. Small convection or roaster ovens use much less energy than their larger counterparts, but they’re still fully capable of cooking large food items.

Convection ovens come in different sizes, so if you plan to cook your turkey inside, make sure you choose a large enough model. Smaller dimensions are still perfect for baked potatoes, casserole dishes and even cookies.

Roaster ovens look more like slow cookers, which are perfect for buffet style serving and keeping dishes warm for hours at a time without overcooking them. They’re perfect for roasting a turkey, ham or chicken with moist, succulent results.

You’ve liking got a lot of slicing and dicing to do in preparation for Thanksgiving dinner. Use a food processor to speed up the process of chopping vegetables, grating cheese, crushing ice, chopping nuts and mixing pie crust ingredients. It may take more electricity to complete these tasks with a machine instead of doing them by hand, but with an energy-efficient food processor, the time and physical exertion you save are well worth it.

Not sure if your turkey is done? Even if the outside is golden brown, the inside might not be fully cooked. You can’t be sure without a meat thermometer. Choose a digital variety for an instant temperature reading after sticking the probe into the bird. An analog version takes longer to deliver a reading, and all the while the oven door is hanging open and losing heat. The minimum safe internal temperature for turkey is 165 degrees.

Clearly, as long as you have the right kitchen gadgets, cooking a Thanksgiving meal doesn’t have to break the bank. Be sure to implement these tips from Mr. Electric® for the best results this upcoming holiday.

Homeowners in Allen and other parts of North Texas know what time of year this is—and they keep the phone number for their top Allen electrician handy. Why? Springtime in North Texas is well-known for its potentially severe weather. Severe storms, along with extreme temperatures and lightning are just a few of the conditions responsible for rolling blackouts, power surges and power outages. Our weakened power grid and a growing population does nothing to alleviate the situation, which is why many turn to their top Allen electrician for tips on how to deal with the storm season.

Storm Season Tips

With the weather in North Texas being so unpredictable, how can you be sure that you are prepared to tackle what Mother Nature dishes out? Follow these simple tips to protect your home, your electrical system and your family from dangerous and frightening conditions.

#1 Have your electrical system checked regularly. With this storm season upon us, it is extremely important that you get in touch with your Allen electrician and have him look over your circuit breakers, wiring and outlets as part of his regular maintenance. Flaws in your electrical system, be it with breakers, wiring or any other aspect, combined with unpredictable weather, is the recipe for a very, very bad situation.

#2 Use power surge protectors on all your appliances. Did you know that, even a lightning strike that hits miles from your home can affect your appliances? Power surge protectors show up often in storm season tips everywhere, and there’s a reason why. Power surges can be deadly for your appliances and anything else hooked up directly into the outlet, particularly during lightning storms.

#3 Install a built-in surge protector on your circuit panel. This will protect everything hooked to the circuit panel from potentially damaging surges. Even when the power is restored after an outage, it often still does not come on right away; instead, it flickers, which shoots and cuts off electricity randomly to your appliances, ultimately causing damage.

#4 Always keep a weather radio handy. Weather alert radios are an invaluable addition to your home’s severe weather kit. In case of an emergency, an outage, lightning strike or blackout, you will have access to weather updates, evacuation information (if necessary), and instructions on how to keep your family and home safe in the event of bad weather.

#5 Invest in an indoor generator. Indoor generators are a great way to take a little pressure off of the overloaded power grid during a power surge or blackout. When there’s a blackout, the indoor generator kicks in, keeping a steady flow of electricity going to your home and keeping your appliances from getting damaged. Some generators are solar-powered, which can save you energy, time and money.

ElectricMan: Helping You Prepare

Severe stormy weather doesn’t have to be scary, inconvenient, dangerous or costly. Following these simple storm season tips can ensure that you and your family are spared the expenses and headaches that come with unpredictable weather in North Texas. For 27 years, ElectricMan has dealt with all sorts of electrical issues resulting from severe weather. Call us today at 972-301-2630 to learn more about how we can help you prepare for a stormy season. For more helpful tips on keeping your home’s electrical system running well, keep checking in with us at blog.electricmaninc.com or check out our website at www.electricmaninc.com today!