Saving on electricity is always the smart way to go, and you’ll find that you can keep monthly bills way down if you just do a few smart things to cut back on your electric power consumption:

Use Fans instead of AC – Winters in Texas may be warm, but the summers are comparable to sitting in the desert. You’ll find that using your AC is the only thing keeping you alive, so the thought of turning them down may be making you sweat. Turn down the AC a few degrees, and turn on some fans around the house. The breeze will cool off the home, and it will blow the cool air around nicely.

Switch Out Light Bulbs – One great way to save on electricity around your home is to use energy saving bulbs. An 18W power saver will produce as much light as a 60W regular bulb, but only use 18W. It will be a steep initial investment to replace all of the light bulbs – the power saver ones are costly – but it will cut your electric bill dramatically.

Use Power Strips – Your TV, DVD player, radio, Xbox, and other devices all use power when they’re turned off, as they’re in standby mode. You should consider plugging all of these devices into a power strip, and just turn off the power strip at night. It will cut down the amount of energy that’s used, and you’ll never know the difference.

Reduce Appliances — Do you really need a toaster, microwave, dishwasher, blender, food processor, juicer, two coffee machines, an espresso maker, and a coffee grinder? You probably need some of these appliances, but you can probably eliminate a few of the ones mentioned above. Use more gas-powered appliances, as gas is cheaper than electricity.

Replace Old Appliances – Did you know that older appliances tend to use a lot more electricity than newer ones? Newer appliances are made according to Energy Star regulations and standards, so they’ll be cheaper in terms of energy consumption. Replacing them will cost you a bit, but you’ll recoup your investment within a year or two.

Turn Down the Heater – If you are using an electric boiler to heat your water, chances are you’ve got it set too high. You probably want to enjoy a nice shower in scalding water, but most people have to turn on the cold water when they shower. If you want to save on electricity, turn down the heater until it’s just nicely hot instead of scalding. You won’t have to turn on the cold water to shower, and you’ll still be able to enjoy a nice hot shower!

Saving electricity isn’t just smart – it’s cost-effective and wallet-friendly as well!

Older homes generally have a character quality that can’t be seen in newer houses. These homes offer great value, and renovation improvements can bring new life into them. Unfortunately often enough the electrical wiring is never inspected during these updates for years at a time. To ensure that all your hard work is going to be safe, look for these common dangers that could threaten your older home.

From the 50s to 70s many homes were built with aluminum wiring. This was used because it was cheaper and more conductive than copper wiring. Unfortunately many pitfalls were found with aluminum wiring after it was used. Overheating and cracking are common problems with aluminum wiring. If your home was built in this time period, have your wires inspected. There could be a number of hazardous points behind your walls that may cause major issues. For more information and hazard signs of aluminum wiring, read our blog article.

Knob and tube wiring was used in homes in the early 1900s and even as early as 50 years ago. It is possible that these homes still contain knob and tube wiring in them. This wiring can be dangerous as it is more likely to crack and result in electrical fires.

The dangers of these two out-dated wiring systems are that they were installed without worry and the problems were not realized until years later. The electrical wiring systems in these homes were left untouched and so did the problems that came with them. Electrical fires, are especially dangerous as the fire starts and spreads quickly and out of sight. By the time the fire is visible it is too late and the damage can be done.

Over the years homes can see additions: new rooms added onto the home, new electrical lines added, hot tubs, etc. If a licenced electrician did not perform these additions there can be a mess of wire connecting the additions to the original home. This problem comes to a head at the service panel. If it is not properly maintained the breaker will trip constantly and electrical outlets will be overloaded. This is very dangerous as the electrical panel is in charge of keeping your home safe from electrical hazards. It is very important that the electrical panel is upgraded in order to provide the correct control of electricity throughout the entire house, old and new. This also means the panel is properly labelled so it is easy to maintain if further updates are being made.

While there is nothing wrong with purchasing an older home, we recommend that a licenced electrician inspect the electrical system in order to identify potential electrical hazards. One of our expert electricians can provide you with a list of items that should be handled. This will help you have peace of mind that your family is safe in their home.

If you live in an older home, you probably have wiring that was designed to support far less voltage than the demands of today’s modern equipment, like computers and home entertainment centers. The wiring might also be starting to decay, leading not only to potential power losses, but fire hazards as well. In many cases, you should invest in at least partial—if not whole-house—rewiring to upgrade your home so it can handle the electrical load and prevent hazards.

Here are a few signs to look for that may warn you it’s time for wiring replacement.

Limit switches, as the name suggests, are precision switches that are designed to work as limiting devices. The switch is typically snap-action and designed to sense the presence, absence, or be triggered by an excess or lack of physical contact at the position where it is installed.

The flexibility and adaptability of limit switches to different tasks and environments has made them very popular as components of conveyor belt systems.

Industrial conveyor belts are considered to be amongst the greatest inventions for boosting production, as well as reducing time, costs and manpower requirements. They are commonly used in production, mining, assembly lines and just about every major industry or sector today.

They typically consist of a number of pulleys that rotate under a continuous belt. Some of these pulleys are powered and they drive the belt, keeping any material on top continuously moving towards its destination.

Conveyor belts can be broadly classified into two classes, which are:

These conveyors are used for transporting smaller volumes of material like packaged goods, or lighter materials like boxes.

These are heavy duty conveyor systems which are designed to carry heavier loads or bulky materials, like industrial and agricultural goods.

While conveyor belts can tremendously increase efficiency, they are prone to jamming from over-loading unless the correct safety measures are put in place. Limit switches help prevent this by measuring the height or number of individual products passing through the conveyor system. In case the switch senses an object that may cause an obstruction, it shuts the system down to prevent damage or spillage.

Depending on the environment and purpose, there are a variety of limit switches which can be used in conveyor systems: