We all know smoke detectors save lives, but did you know you can make them even more effective by having an electrician install hard-wired smoke detectors? This particular kind of smoke detector works the same as the traditional battery-powered detectors that you typically find in homes. However, the major difference is the fact they are connected to a home’s main power supply. An electrician in Beverly Hills will need to take care of the installation process. At The Electric Connection, the staff is familiar with these kinds of jobs and can get them completed in a timely manner.

One of the key benefits is the fact the hard-wired detectors are all interconnected. When one detector is activated, the rest of the smoke detectors in the house will sound the alarm. This means no matter where you are in the house, as long as you have a hard-wired smoke detector on each floor, you will hear it. Fires that start in the attic, basement or garage can go undetected for minutes or longer because the smoke detector isn’t heard in other parts of the house. With detectors that are all linked together, you don’t have to worry about this. Even if you are downstairs watching television, you will still know when the smoke detector in the attic is going off.

This can save lives and potentially prevent excessive damage to the house by giving you a precious extra few minutes to call for help. Beverly Hills electrical systems like this require certified electricians to install. This ensures the smoke detectors are wired correctly and are not creating another fire risk. In some cases, homeowners insurance will require a certified electrician completes the install. If you would like to learn more about hard-wired smoke detectors and what they can do for you, give The Electric Connection a call today.

Hurricane Sandy is making her presence known in MD, DC, and VA. Downed trees, flooding, and even snowfall are causing serious problems for people in the area. Millions are without power throughout the Northeast. Hurricane Sandy is not the first, nor will it be the last, powerful storm to hit the area. This is a perfect time to consider investing in a home or commercial standby backup generator, which is a permanently installed fixture.

Kolb Electric is a leading installer of home standby backup generators. This type of generator is permanently installed on a gravel bed or concrete pad next to your house. The benefits of investing in a home standby backup generator include:

Here at Kolb Electric, we’ve also completed numerous commercial standby backup generators. We’ve heard the same thing over and over again from business owners in the area in terms of what they’re looking for in a backup generator:

Standby backup generators allow homes and businesses to continue normal, everyday operations. Hurricane Sandy is a real wakeup call to MD, DC, and VA that the area is vulnerable to inclement weather conditions. To protect your home or business from future power outages, contact Kolb Electric to schedule a home or commercial standby backup generator installation.

For decades, ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCIs) have saved thousands of lives and have helped significantly reduce the number of home electrocutions by about fifty percent. Many homes and business on Kauai do not have proper electrical protection in outdoor or wet locations. With our wind and heavy rain, you need to make sure that you are guarded from the hazard of a shock.

GFCIs are electrical safety devices that trip electrical circuits when they detect ground faults or leakage currents. A person who becomes part of a path for leakage current will be severely shocked or electrocuted. These outlets prevent deadly shock by quickly shutting off power to the circuit if the electricity flowing into the circuit differs by even a slight amount from that returning.

A GFCI should be used in any indoor or outdoor area where water may come into contact with electrical products. The 2008 edition of the National Electrical Code currently requires that GFCIs be used in all kitchens, bathrooms, garages, and outdoors. GFCIs should be tested once a month to confirm that they are working properly.

How to Test Your GFCI:

GFCIs should be tested often to make sure they are working properly. To test your GFCI:

If the light does not turn off when the test button is pushed, then the GFCI may have been incorrectly wired or damaged and it no longer offers shock the protection it was designed for.

Contact us at Blue Sky Electric to check the GFCI and correct the problem:

Call 808-647-0599