The power that runs to our home is something we have come to rely on. There isn’t a part of our day that does not somehow use electricity. It is how we cook, tell the time, play and stay clean. When the power goes out, our lives are turned upside down. Fortunately, the power grid has been fairly stable. Unfortunately, it isn’t stable enough and the smallest thing can take it out. It is a good idea to be ready to deal with a power outage should one catch you off guard. An electrician in Burbank has some tips for putting together a power outage kit. If you have any questions about power outages or what to do, give The Electric Connection a call.

It is a good idea to put your supplies in a drawer or in a small tote stored in a cupboard in a hall closet. It needs to be easily accessed in the dark. Adding a glow in the dark sticker or two to the tote can help make it stand out.

*Talk with a Burbank electrician about having security lights installed in your home and outside. These lights will automatically turn on when the power is cut. Some of these plug into an outlet and will come on when the power goes out, providing you with instant light.

*Toss in a few emergency candles and matches along with candleholders.

*Some LED headlamps and/or flashlights is also a good idea.

*Have the number to the power company in the kit or somewhere you can easily find it.

*Keep a few cans of food on hand along with a manual can opener just in case the power outage extends into the meal periods.

You can avoid the problems created when the power goes out by having a standby generator installed by an electrician. Burbank homeowners will take comfort in having a backup source of power. Give The Electric Connection a call today and learn more about preparing for power outages.

Summer’s coming, which means it’s almost time to fire up the air conditioner if you want to stay comfortable in your home. But running an air conditioner can be expensive! Around this time, many people start looking for ways to save cooling costs. Some of the most popular methods include:

Other, more complicated ways people save money on their energy bills include adding insulation and planting trees. And while those are definitely effective and will save you money in the long term, there is an even easier way to save money on your energy bills that you might not have thought of—installing a ceiling fan!

You probably already know that warm air rises and cool air sinks. During the summer, running your ceiling fan counterclockwise will push air down, moving the cool air around and creating a breeze that will help you feel cooler, even if you turn the thermostat up a few degrees.  Some ceiling fans can make a room feel up to eight degrees cooler! During the summer, every degree you turn your thermostat up can save you from 3-5 percent on your cooling bills, so every bit helps.

Having multiple fans running at once can help even more by improving airflow through your entire home, so install them wherever you need them! Ceiling fans tend to be inexpensive and the comfort and savings they provide can’t be beat.

Don’t forget: running your air conditioner doesn’t actually cool your home—it only makes you ­feel­ cooler. Therefore, you should always shut the fan off before you leave the room!

You may already know that ceiling fans can help you cool off in the summer, but did you know they can also help keep you warmer in the winter? It’s true! Flip the switch on your ceiling fan so your fan will rotate clockwise. This creates a gentle updraft that pushes warm air up against the ceiling and down along the walls to the bottom of the room, making it feel warmer and helping you save up to 15 percent on your heating bills!

The same things apply to fans in the winter as the summer—multiple fans will increase the effect, but you should only run them when your home is occupied.

Ceiling fans are a great investment for anyone looking to save money and stay more comfortable in their homes all year long. If you’re looking for ceiling fan installation in Maryland, Virginia, or Washington, DC, call Kolb Electric today!

By providing early warning in the event of fire, smoke detectors can allow you and your family sufficient time to reach safety. Experts report that you can increase your chances of surviving in a home fire by 50% simply by having smoke detectors. Click here for more information about installing  smoke detectors in Los Angeles, my electrical company’s service area.

If your house was built before 1950, it likely has electrical wires with cloth insulation. Over time, the cloth dries out and becomes brittle. Eventually, it crumbles off the wire, exposing bare wires that can short-circuit and cause shocks or fires. Old cloth-insulated wires should be replaced with plastic-insulated wires. Plastic insulation lasts indefinitely and completely resolves the safety issue. Click here for more information about replacing cloth  wiring insulation.

The National Electrical Code requires that outlets in the vicinity of water be equipped with a device called a “Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter” or GFCI (also called GFI). GFCIs are required in all bathrooms, kitchens, garages, pools, and some outdoor areas. GFCIs can protect your family against deadly electrical shocks and are inexpensive to install. Click here for more information about GFCIs and GFIs.

Knob & Tube wiring gets its name from the white ceramic knobs around which wires were wound and the short ceramic tubes through which wires were guided. This type of wiring is usually found in homes built before 1935. In the Los Angeles and some other parts of the country, knob and tube can sometimes be seen in houses built as late as 1950. My electrical company specializes in replacing Knob and Tube wiring in the L.A. area — much of it is in Pasadena and other parts of the San Gabriel Valley.

Knob & Tube systems use old cloth-insulated wires and are not grounded. We strongly recommend that Knob & Tube wiring be replaced to eliminate fire and electrical shock hazards.

An electrical surge is a sudden increase in power that flows through electrical wires. Surges can cause damage to computers, phones, entertainment systems, microwaves, stoves, fridges, washers – any device that has electronic components such as sensors and timers. Today, that’s most appliances. A Whole House Surge Protector can save your appliances and electronic devices and save you thousands of dollars in damage.

Look for our $50 discount coupon for the installation of whole house surge protectors at www.theelectricconnection.com.

A properly grounded electrical system routes occasional leaking electricity through a “ground wire” into the ground. Without grounding, excess electricity can cause fires, damage to electrical appliances and computers, and also shocks to residents.

Older homes built under earlier electrical codes will often have outlets for two-prong plugs. This is often an indication of an ungrounded electrical system. Sometimes, the outlets have been replaced with the modern three-prong type, but without actually adding a ground wire. This can make it appear that the system is grounded when it’s not.

Even when your wiring system has a ground wire, the grounding may fail due to loose or corroded connections and splices. A qualified electrician can check your wiring with a special tester to determine if it’s fully grounded. The Electric Connection offers this testing as a free service with every electrical job that we do in the L.A. area.

There is now conclusive evidence that both Zinsco and Federal Pacific Electric (FPE) “Stab-Lok” electrical panels can fail. (Electrical panels contain your circuit breakers or fuses.) Fires and electrical shocks can result. These brands were installed in the 1950s to 1980s. The failure rates as they age are much higher than for other brands and represent a real electrical hazard. We recommend all Zinsco and FPE electrical panels and circuit breakers be replaced with modern electrical equipment. Click here for more information about Zinsco and Federal Pacific electrical panels. One of the specialties of The Electric Connection is panel upgrades. We’re possibly the most active company in Los Angeles when it comes to electrical panel replacements. We offer a free safety check of your L.A. electrical panel box with every job.

Circuit breakers and fuses protect your electrical wiring from overloads of electricity. Overloading can melt wires and cause fires and electrical shocks. Whenever a wire is overloaded, the circuit breaker or fuse is supposed to cut the flow of electricity.

Sometimes older circuit breakers don’t work fast enough and allow too much current through. Fuses can also be a safety concern. Sometimes, they’ve been replaced with improperly-sized fuses and no longer protect wires from overloading. These safety issues can be solved by installing modern circuit breakers. Click here for a coupon for a free check of your electrical circuit breaker box with your next electrical job.

Most homes have copper electrical wires. However, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, over 2,000,000 U.S. homes were wired with aluminum. The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission has determined that aluminum wiring is hazardous as, over time, connections and splices can fail, resulting in fires and shocks.

Fortunately, a qualified electrician can upgrade an aluminum wiring system without replacing all the wires with copper. It’s possible to eliminate the fire hazard by upgrading only connection points and splices. Aluminum wiring safety retrofits should be done only by electricians specifically trained to upgrade aluminum wiring safely.

If you think it’s possible that your Los Angeles home has aluminum wiring, you can get a free checkwith your next electrical job. One of the specialties of The Electric Connection is efficient and effective safety upgrading of aluminum wiring in the Los Angeles area.

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