Even though our weather has been unseasonably warm as of lately, that doesn’t mean that fall tasks should be ignored. Fall is the perfect time to review whether your heating system needs replacement, prep your home for the cooler weather eventually to come, and install systems that can help make winter a bit more bearable when it does hit. One of these systems is a driveway heating system.

Basically, a heated driveway keeps your pavement warm enough to melt snow as it falls onto the surface, rather than letting the snow pile up. There are two basic types of snow melting systems used for your heated driveway. The first is an electric system that uses electric cables installed into your driveway. With this method, electrical resistance is used to generate heat and an activation device is used to tell your system when to kick into gear.

Another option we offer is the hydronic snow melting system. This utilizes a closed-loop tubing system which is installed in the concrete or asphalt of the area that the system will treat. A water/antifreeze solution is heated and circulated throughout this tubing, thus melting the snow.

Some of the benefits of heated driveways may seem pretty apparent, such as the elimination of the need to shovel snow from your driveway! There are more benefits than just that though. Driveways that are heated prevents ice accumulation during freezing rain, making the act of walking to your car safer. There’s also no need for the use of salt or other snow-removal chemicals, which means your driveway won’t be exposed to the amount of damage these things can do.

The MD, DC, and VA area is known for getting slammed with violent and powerful thunderstorms that produce severe lightning. Electrical surges, which are caused by lightning, can wreak havoc on your expensive electronics and appliances.

A lightning strike that hits a power line several miles away from your house can impact all your electronic items. Whole-house surge protection is the best option you have to protect your home electronics and wiring from the damage caused by lightning strikes.

Everyone from the National Fire Protection Association to the Institute for Business and Home Safety recommends the use of whole-house surge protection. As a homeowner, the good news for you is that protection is readily available, and even top-of-the-line solutions are affordable. The gold standard in whole-house surge protection is a two-tiered system—a whole-house surge protective device, or SPD, installed at the circuit breaker box, and plug-in SPDs on individual outlets. A whole-house SPD can protect against up to 40,000 amps of current flowing into your home from the outside; normal household power is between 200 to 300 amps. When an electrical surge occurs as a result of a lightning strike, the device detects the excess current and safely diverts it through the house’s grounding path. Whole-house surge protection provides homeowners in MD, DC, and VA peace of mind when a powerful thunderstorm passes the area.

Whole-house surge protection can typically be installed in a home for around $200—it’s an easy job for a top electrician. The cost of replacing electronic equipment in an average home is a whopping $8,000, and it may be even higher for homes in MD, DC, and VA. Whole-house surge protection is cheap insurance against electrical surges caused by lightning strikes. It provides a layer of protection to all the electronic items in your home.

To ensure complete safety, Kolb Electric recommends that you allow a qualified, experienced electrician to complete the wiring for whole-house surge protection—there are several steps involved that are best left to a professional.

If you require surge protection wiring or want a full whole-house surge protection installation, contact Kolb Electric.

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911). Her bio is beyond the scope of this entry, but I encourage you to follow the link and check her out. Get a little perspective on life today by reading a paragraph about this amazing human being and poet.

Harper’s poem, “Let the Light Enter,” depicts light in an interesting and fresh way, fresh still, even 100 years after her death. Poetry, generally speaking, is like a vast collection of opportunities to learn about yourself and the world in which you live. I invite you to take a minute to read “Let the Light Enter.”

The Dying Words of Goethe

He just urgently wants to watch the “balmy sunshine/ Play around” his deathbed. He just wants to experience the sensation of light doing it’s thing. “More light!” he demands. It strongly suggests that appreciating and enjoying the beauty of light is what Goethe, a lifelong thinker and poet who lived from 1749 to 1832, finds most worthy of his final precious minutes. That’s a big deal. In choosing between the pleasure of thoughts and the pleasure of the material world, he chooses the latter. It’s like all the things that seem to separate us from the natural world are shown to be false in the final moments. Think of a dog lying on a rock in the sun. Maybe that’s the purest state of being, just lying there, not thinking much, and enjoying the pleasure of the light, the sound of a brook. And maybe that’s why Goethe wants to pass away in such a state.