Although a lot of people know what surge protection is, some people don't have the slightest clue. This article will explain what surge protection is and help you understand why it's important.

What Exactly Is Surge Protection?

Surge protection is what protects your electronic devices and appliances from spikes in electrical voltage. A surge protector will basically limit the amount of electric voltage that is allowed to reach the electronic device or appliance by blocking or grounding unwanted voltages.

Different Types of Surge Protectors

Surge protectors come in two different forms. You are probably pretty familiar with a power strip surge protector, but there is another popular type of surge protector that is designed for your circuit breaker panel. When selecting a surge protector, make sure that you chose a higher level of joules. This is because you have more protection as you enter the higher numbers of joules.

Benefits of Surge Protection

When it come to surge protection, there are an abundance of benefits, including the following:

Additional Outlets – First off, if you use a power strip surge protector, you are provided with a number of additional outlets that you can use to plug in more devices and/or appliances into a single outlet. Saves Energy – Also with the power strip, you can save on energy usage. This is because there is an on/off switch on the power strip that allows you to switch off all plugged-in devices so that they are pulling electricity when they are not being used. Protects Devices – If there is a major storm in the area, then a surge protector (for the circuit or the power strip type) can help keep plugged-in devices and appliances from shorting out should there be an excessive amount of voltage being transmitted or a power surge, such as from a lightning strike. Increased Warranties – As a general rule, if you have your electronic items plugged into a surge protector and they are damaged despite the protection that the surge protector should have offered, your device or appliance will typically be replaced.

Mortgage lenders try to look at the big picture, considering things like taxes and insurance when deciding how much they can loan out to homeowners and buyers. However, there's a major ongoing expense that appraisers currently don't take into account – monthly utility bills. You don't need to be an electrician to understand that the money you pay for power each month makes an impact on your budget and even affects the value of your home. A bill currently in front of Congress – the SAVE Act – would acknowledge that reality and let federal mortgage lenders make energy efficiency part of their formula.

Increasing the Value of Your Home

Essentially, the SAVE Act would make it easier to get financing for efficiency upgrades, even folding funding for it into traditional mortgages.

“This bill would require federal mortgage agencies to recognize the energy efficiency upgrades in a home during the mortgage underwriting process, thereby increasing the value of the home,” President of the Alliance to Save Energy Kateri Callahan said in a statement. 

The SAVE Act claims it would bring a number of benefits in addition to loosening the drawstrings on bank financing for efficiency. Among them:

A Diverse Group of Supporters

The SAVE Act was first introduced in 2013. Although Congress has yet to vote on the measure, it has lined up a diverse group of supporters who aren't typically on the same side of major issues, from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers to the Alliance to Save Energy, the National Resources Defense Council, the U.S. Green Building Council and others.

In the meantime, there are a number of steps you can take around your home today to cut down on your utility bills. If you need any help installing efficient appliances or upgrading your home electric system, contact an expert electrician today.

The importance of properly functioning electrical panels can’t be understated; if you haven’t recently, then the time to get your home’s electrical panels checked out is now. With fall just around the corner, energy usage in Des Moines’ homes will begin to rise exponentially as homeowners spend more time indoors and rely more heavily upon heating systems. The last thing you want in the middle of fall or winter is an electrical panel acting up, failing you, or even possibly endangering your family.

These days, our homes are only a small step away from being a large computer. Like any computer, the motherboard and power supply serve a vital purpose in powering and joining all systems; our homes aren’t much different, but the electrical panel represents both of these vital components. This means that if your electrical panel is broken or old, the various electrical systems you enjoy throughout your home will fail to work or become unsafe. By keeping your electrical panel in properly working order, you secure your home’s ability to grow with your family.

Your home cannot unendingly add electrical applications, as nice as that would be; instead, your home’s maximum output is determined and limited by your electrical panel. This means, if you’re planning on extending your home or adding large electrical appliances, you should absolutely consult with a licensed electrician to find out how eligible your panel is for accommodating the new output. Even if your system is under its maximum potential output, it may be advisable to upgrade your panel to enjoy uninterrupted service; always be sure to contact an electrician for any output questions or concerns.

While having an older electrical panel isn’t necessarily bad, there are a few things to watch for; older panels can carry innate risks that can be easily avoided by upgrading your electrical panel. If your home’s panel still uses fuses (not flippable circuit breakers), then you should definitely get it upgraded right away. Likewise, if your panel is from a proven-to-be unreliable brand such as Federal Pacific of FPE, be sure to give us a call at 515-446-7040 right away for assistance. Even semi-modern panels feature flippable circuit breakers, which reliably protect your home and appliances from dangerous surges. Keeping your home safe is our electrician’s primary concern, and ensuring your electrical panel is within a safe parameter is certainly part of that.

If you’re looking to grow your home’s living space, add electrical improvements inside or out, or are worried about the safety and security of your current electrical panel, then be sure to contact our licensed, bonded, and insured Des Moines electricians today. We have the skills and expertise necessary to safely and effectively upgrade your home’s electrical panel or advise against it if an upgrade is unnecessary. Electrical Gurus is proud to provide local service you can trust, get in touch with us today for details!

1-by-4-foot,  LED light panels use Even-Glow® technology and diffused optical lenses to deliver smooth, flawless illumination without visible bulbs or hot spots. They can be recessed mounted or surface mounted to an existing ceiling junction box. The LED fixtures emit up to 4,600 lumens of natural white illumination for home lighting, kitchen lighting, living room lighting, office lighting, basement lighting, sign backlighting, hospital lighting, and more.

LEDs in the panel lights are designed to last five times longer than fluorescent tube light bulbs without the notorious hum or flicker they produce. Each LED panel light has a slim, white aluminum alloy frame and an internal 0-10-volt dimmable constant-current driver. Dimming can be achieved with a 0-10-volt switch or by using the light’s power-cycle feature to activate set brightness levels. The energy-efficient panel lights operate within a 100-277V AC range.

During the summer, your attic fan vents heat out of your home’s upper region. Obviously, during the winter, you don’t really want to be losing heat. What you may want to be losing, though, is excess moisture and humidity in your attic. You see, heated air moving through a home can pick up moisture on its travels. While winter air is dry, acts such as bathing, doing the dishes, and more, all in a home tightly sealed against the winter elements outdoors, can lead to the introduction of quite a bit of water vapor into the air. Warm air tends to rise, of course, so that warm air, and the moisture that it contains, can make its way up into your attic. Once its up there, the moisture in that air can lead to problems with damaged insulation due to condensation, and even long term issues with wood rot.

Additionally, the heat that rises into the top level of your home can also melt snow that has accumulated on your roof. Once it has melted, that snow melt can freeze in your gutters, causing ice dams. This can pull the gutters away from the house, due to the weight, causing external damage. By exchanging hot, moist air from inside the attic with cooler, drier air from outside, you can avoid such problems via the use of an attic fan. Call for more details.