Double tapped breakers are a common circuit breaker defect—but they are also one of the easiest electrical problems to correct. 

A double tapped breaker occurs when two conductors are found connected under one circuit breaker lug or when two conductors are connected at the neutral bar under one screw. The problem with a double tapped breaker is that circuit breakers aren’t designed to hold these two conductors together. While they might feel secure and seem to be working fine, these conductors could loosen up leading to arcing, overheating, and safety hazards, including fire.

A double tapped breaker can also occur if your electrical work has been done by someone without correct electrical experience. This can be bad news for your home’s safety and for future building permits!

Sometimes a circuit breaker can be designed for two conductors. In this case, there will usually be a label saying so. However, a double tapped breaker can also be a defect if the breaker isn’t designed to hold two conductors. If there is no label but there are two conductors, there may be an issue with the electrical connection requiring a repair by an experienced electrician.

There are a few ways that double tapped breakers can be corrected; these include the following:

If you have no experience working on an electrical panel, it is a good idea to have a licensed electrical contractor complete the work for you. Playing with electricity without proper experience could be dangerous to yourself and your home!

Kolb Electric has a team of certified electricians who offer a full range of electrical services to home and building owners in Maryland, Northern Virginia, and Washington, DC. We have been working in the DMV area for over 90 years and provide our customers with affordable, quality electrical repairs, whether they have a double tapped breaker in need of correction or any other electrical issue.

Contact us today for a free estimate on your home or office’s electrical work. We offer same day service, 7 days a week!

LED Technology is not just about efficiency, power and light color temperature. Luminous flux performance over lifetime and color rendering index, accordingly the spectrum, are important as well. A lot of people recognize cheap LED versions in any shops or retail stores that seem to be bluish and illuminate the space quite palely.

The manufacturing process is accompanied by variations in material and action itself. The results are white light LEDs with different characteristics. Binning systems have been introduced to support the performance of LEDs and LED products. Binning is focusing on LEDs chromaticity (light color) or luminous flux (brightness) and can be described as the grouping of the LEDs into samples with the same or closest light color or brightness.

LED Light Color – Binning System.

In a nutshell, recent studies tested different compositions of lighting spectra and found an influence on human condition. People who are sensitive to their surroundings tend to complain about headache, dizziness and even nausea when exposed to imbalanced spectra. Long term exposition is even expected to have a negative impact on human health. When buying LED light sources, retrofit kits and products have a look at the CRI or spectrum. The more balanced, the better for the people working under it.

Photovoltaics employ solar panels to create energy. Solar power remains a rapidly growing field in the renewable energy sector. It has the potential to completely power our world and drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Aside from large-scale solar plants, photovoltaics can also be found in a variety of places from calculators and watches to electric planes and the space station. The lack of moving parts makes them valuable in portable devices and in areas without other sources of power. And because the only source of fuel required is sunlight, they can produce power continuously for years without maintenance. Thanks to the falling cost of installation and the potential savings on utility bills, many homeowners are now choosing to install rooftop panels on their own homes.

As the cost per watt of solar power continues to plummet, new solar technologies are emerging. Therefore, the second generation of solar panels, known as thin-film PV, consist of extremely thin panels only a few micrometers thick. These panels are much more versatile and have found their way into Tesla’s solar roof tiles, among other things. They are less efficient than first-generation panels, but much cheaper, simply due to the fact that they require less material to manufacture.

Most noteworthy, third-generation high-intensity solar cells are also in development and promise to be even thinner and extremely efficient. Perovskite PV cells and Organic and Polymer Photovoltaic (OPV) cells are some of the newest third generation solar technologies and use materials other than crystalline silicon.

Photovoltaics remains a quickly growing field that has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This technology provides energy independence, while powering the world reliably and efficiently.

Spring weather is finally here, a welcome relief for those parts of the country that have spent the last few months plagued by snow and ice. With the warm weather comes an increased dependence on air conditioners, which can use up a large amount of energy and add to your utility bills each month. There are certain steps you can take to reduce the overall electrical consumption of your house so you do not have to pay as much when you write out that check.

Here are a few ways you can improve your home's power use: