Home fires devastate hundreds of thousands of families each year. In 2015 alone, there were 1,345,000 fires reported in the United States, resulting in over 3,000 deaths and 15,000 injuries. Among the most common causes of fires are kitchen stoves, faulty wiring, lighting, clothes dryers, and candles. Monday marked the beginning of National Fire Prevention Week, and because we’re committed to ensuring the safety and peace of mind of home homeowners, we’re going to spend this week helping you safeguard your home against a possible fire.

It’s essential to note that you can’t prevent 100 percent of fires; however, there are certain measures you can take to significantly reduce the possibility of one. The most important thing you can do as a homeowner is always be proactive and vigilant. We’ve put together what we believe to be the most important tips you can follow for fire prevention.

A microwave is basically standard in any home these days, along with refrigerators, washing machines, etc. But do you know very much about your microwave? Furthermore, is it important that you know anything about your microwave? You might be surprised by our answer!

At Kolb Electric, our experts make a point to stay up to date with any and all information regarding modern electrical practice, the workings of appliances and how they impact your home. Why do we tell you this? So you know we know our stuff when we say wattage is the single most important factor in choosing a microwave! Well, that and a popcorn button.

Avoiding the potential (and boy, is there potential) for a massive science lesson, wattage boils down to a unit of measurement for a unit of power. In how your average person understands it, wattage is how much power an appliance utilizes to operate.

Microwave wattage generally spans between six and twelve hundred (600-1200) watts. You can see the wattage of your microwave on either the original package, or on the bottom of the unit. It will either have a number and say watts beside it, or it will simply have a number and a “w”, which means watts.

Understanding the wattage of your microwave tells you a few things. In a practical sense, it tells you how strong the microwave is. This is why “cook times may vary”. It also tells you what your microwave needs to operate smoothly. Many microwaves require a dedicated circuit to operate smoothly. We’ll go further in depth on this in a moment.

But, why have varied microwave wattage?

Well, there are a few good reasons. Many homes and older building simply can’t handle the supply need of higher wattage appliances, thus lower wattage options are available. Additionally, larger or more powerful microwaves are (naturally) more expensive. So, there’s a practical reason, and a cost-based reason.

What was that about a dedicated circuit?

Many homeowners feel that just any old outlet will do for their microwave. Most of the time, they learn they’re wrong the hard way. Microwaves require a dedicated circuit because it’s code and legally required, and  because not having a dedicated circuit can lead to breaker flips, power surges and permanent appliance damage.

Microwaves are high-power items, and use some of the highest wattages in your home. Furthermore, they use energy in a very intense way, which means a microwave can stress your circuits like no other.

We hope you learned something useful (or at least a little interesting)! Do you know if your microwave is on its own, dedicated circuit? If not, contact a Kolb professional today!

On the topic of commercial lighting and products, we often hear the term Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP for short), which is a non-profit that was founded back in 1996. There general mission is to accelerate the adoption of higher efficiency lighting within the world of commercial lighting products.

In conjunction with DLC, there is a group known as the Industry Advisory Committee (IAC). There general purpose is to support the mission of the DLC through education, collaboration, and expertise within the field.

So far you can probably start to notice that the DLC is basically all about efficient commercial lighting. But what role are they actually playing within the commercial lighting products industry? Well, the DLC runs something known as the Energy Star, but DLC is all about commercial products where Energy Star is more about consumer products.

On this Qualified Product List provided by the DLC, you can search up products by certain companies that claim to be DLC certified to confirm that they truly are.

While searching through this database, you may notice that some products are listed as “DLC Standard” and some as “DLC Premium.” Do you know which is better? You guessed it, the DLC Premium! The reason that a product being listed as premium rather than just standard is that to be qualified as premium you have to pass even harsher and more strict guidelines. Do you know what that means? It means even more efficient lighting fixtures for those products that have successfully been listed as DLC Premium.

Want to give it a test and see for yourself how this QPL works? Follow these simple steps:

1. Visit extremely helpful link over on the official DLC website that go’s over everything you need to become listed, standard or premium. As you can see on the official DLC website, becoming DLC Premium is only for the most efficient and quality lighting products.