The National Electrical Code has permitted the use of aluminum wiring since 1901, a mere four years after the first recognized national electrical code was published in 1897. However, there can be safety hazards in an home wired in aluminum especially in older homes. Many homes wired over 30 years ago with aluminum pose a…
Direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) have been argued since the late 1800’s when electricity was be produced commercially. Think I am joking? The War of the Currents was a serious national argument about which current was better. Alternating Current won the war AC came out as being the premier choice because it was…
There are advantages and disadvantages to both overhead and underground wiring. The trick to determining which one is safer depends on which electrical wiring option works best for your situation. Underground Wiring Underground wiring has the advantage of being a cleaner look to your yard because there is not any visible wiring. If you have…
Surge protection draws in any abundance of energy that comes into the electrical system and gets rid of it through your grounding system in order to prevent damage to electronics plugged in during a power surge. A surge protector is a device which protects electronic devices from the effects of a sudden spike in voltage…
A breaker trips when there’s either a short or fault in the system or when you’re using more power than the circuit has available. This could be due to having too many items plugged in, too many lights on, etc. Circuit breakers are designed to trip and turn off power when any of the following dangerous situations…
Help! My outlet went out! When working with electricity, it is always the safest to contact your trusted electrician for the best solution to the problem. If only some of your outlets are not working and there has not been an outage, it is likely that you have a failed connection that is not allowing…
To upgrade my electrical panel, or not… There are quite few different reasons why you may need to upgrade your electrical panel. If it is older than 20 years old, it may be time to upgrade. Another reason for upgrading is if your panel has been improperly installed and is not UL Listed or has…
There are many benefits of using LED lights, so much so that CF-style lighting is fading away quickly. Many people have changed their lighting in their house to LED lighting because they are high in quality, safe, inexpensive, environmental friendly and aesthetically beautiful for interior lighting. Quality of LED lights LED bulbs last longer than…
In electric “arc” is a discharge of current that occurs when the current passes through normally non conductive media such as air. Small arcs can occur through normal use of plugs and switches, however an high-power discharge, also known as an arc-fault, produce heat which can cause an electrical fire. In fact, arc-faults are one of…
A light switch may need to be repaired if there are loose wires connected to it, causing lighting problems. If there is actual damage to the switch or fixture or if it feels loose, it may need to be replaced altogether.