A modern convenience often taken for granted, electric power, can be found everywhere. To route electricity from the power station to your wall outlet requires many steps. Residential house wiring includes a variety of wiring and control devices to ensure safe and reliable service.

Electricity in the home is distributed by means of branch circuits. Furthermore, each branch circuit is supplied via a circuit breaker sized per the expected load on the circuit. A typical lighting and receptacle circuit will be rated at 15A. Because of their size, larger loads like ovens, clothes dryers, and air conditioning units are given dedicated circuit breakers.

A typical home can have dozens of 15A circuits, and several 20A, 30A, or even 50A circuits. Yet the total of all these breakers is much more than the size of the main breaker. However, this is intentional. It’s highly unlikely that every circuit will be fully loaded at any one time, so a demand factor is taken into account to keep the main breaker at a reasonable size.

A wood-framed home will typically use solid copper non-metallic sheathed cable for the majority of wiring applications. Solid conductors are easy to terminate and cheaper than equivalent stranded wire. The AWG size of the wire is determined by the expected load on the circuit and by the size of the breaker protecting it. You should never connect a wire to a breaker that is too large to protect it, as an overloaded wire can easily catch fire.

If you live in a sunny climate like we enjoy here in southern California, you might be considering adding solar panels to your home. Home solar arrays are becoming increasingly popular, but is it the right choice for you? Perhaps understanding the reasons to install solar panels might help you make up your mind. Here are a few of the reasons you should install solar panels now:

1. They’ve Never Been More Efficient – Solar panels are now far more efficient at converting solar energy, with at least 12 percent of the available solar energy on their surfaces converted into power. Combine that with dropping prices, now below $6 per megawatt, and the cost of investing in solar has never been lower.

2. Incentives and Tax Breaks – With a variety of federal, state and local incentives, you can now cut the low prices on solar even further. The federal government offers a credit of up to 30 percent off the cost of your system. Add the ample fiscal incentives offered in the state of California to create a truly winning proposition.

3. Stability During Climbing Energy Prices – Electricity climbs an average of five percent a year, while your solar panels will give you the same amount of energy every year, meaning that your saving actually grows with time.

4. Greater Property Value – More people are recognizing the value of solar panels and are looking for homes that have this built in power source. You can be sure that a solar array will add value to your home.

If those reasons aren’t quite enough, you’ll be convinced once you explore the possibility of solar leasing that gives you the potential to install and purchase a home with no money down. Not every home owner is eligible but if you are, you can enjoy growing savings at no initial cost. Call us today to see if you’re ready and qualified for solar leasing.

We often find there is a lot of confusion between Lumens and Foot Candles and Lux. And even more confusing is how some represent conversion from traditional light sources like Metal Halide and High Pressure Sodium in terms of watts, and not lumens. So why all the confusion. Well, it may be because those who represent this conversion are trying to avoid letting you know about the efficiency of the LED lights, so they claim you can replace X watts of Metal Halide with X watts of LED. What they should really say is that you can replace a 400W Metal Halide with X lumens, and their lights only need Y watts to produce these lumens. We’ll dive into this a little later, but lets first talk about lumens vs foot candles vs lux.

What is a lumen? A lumen is a measurement of light related to (1) fixture or bulb. So when we talk about lumens, we say that a fixture or bulb creates (X) lumens. These lumens are determined by sophisticated measurement equipment.

What is a foot candle? A foot candle is a unit of measurement at a specific location in a room or outdoor location that is created by 1 to many lights. It is a cumulative reading of 1 to many light sources at a specific location. It is both real and calculated. Real in the sense that you can take a light meter and walk to any location in a room or outdoor location and take a reading that represents the amount of light recorded from all contributing lights or fixtures. Calculated in the sense that you can use software to predict the foot candles of a space based on the placement of lights within the simulation.

What is lux? Lux is identical to foot candles. It is a measurement of real or calculated light, but it is done on a different scale. As a rough estimate, 1 foot candle = 10 lux.

So, simply stated, lights produces lumens, and the cumulative lumens of all lights are then determine the foot candle or lux measurement of light at a specific point in an indoor or outdoor space.

Question:

I’m an electrical contractor in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In one of the earlier posts I’ve noticed that you offer a lifetime workmanship warranty. Could you explain to me how it works? As I am planning to implement something similar here. If you can share a copy of you warranty agreement – that would be ideal, but if you cannot I understand that. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Best, Fred Samson

Answer:

For over 30 years I have offered a Lifetime Guarantee on all my company’s work. Over the years, this has generated a lot of extra sales for our Los Angeles electrical contractor customers. The way our guarantee has been so successful for us is that we have a Lifetime Guarantee on all my company’s [B]work[/B], not the materials used.

We tell customers that we guarantee our own work for LIFE, but we can’t be responsible for materials that we didn’t build ourselves (light fixtures, smoke detectors, dimmers, circuit breakers, etc.). On materials, we back-up whatever the manufacturer’s warrantee is.

I’ll be happy to talk about this with you in more detail if you want. Feel free to call me during business hours M-F.

Good luck with your business.

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Come check out our booth at The Iowa Home Show January 15-17 at the Iowa State Fairgrounds! Featuring on Saturday country music artist Matt Snook!  And seminars with Design Star Winner Jennifer Bertrand both Saturday and Sunday!  You will also be able to tour 2 complete homes!  Custom Electrical Services at The Iowa Home Show!  Friday 1-7 , Saturday 10-7 , Sunday 11-4.

Please come out and see all the vendors and stop at the Custom Electrical Services booth.  Custom Electrical Services at the Iowa Home Show will have a variety items on display.  Check out the latest LED options for your home.  Inquire about a whole house backup generator.  Upgrade some electrical devices and more!  Please print the coupon photo and enjoy a complementary buy 1 get 1 free entry coupon!

Of course you will want to check out the Custom Electrical Services booth at The Iowa Home Show, there will also be a large variety of vendors. Ranging from general contractors, remodeling contractors, flooring and tile vendors, countertop vendors and more!  If you coming for ideas, trying to find a contractor, or just looking for something to do.  Please come out and say hi!