The hot water heater represents one of the greatest hazards in the modern home, yet far too many homeowners have never read their heater’s owner’s manual. Common dangers associated with these household appliances include severe burns from scalding water, electric shock hazards, explosions, and fire.

Because most water heaters reside in closets, basements and garages, and are for the most part hidden from our daily lives, many aren’t as aware as they should be of the maintenance and precautions which are necessary for safety. Many homeowners don’t know, for instance, that they should drain and flush a hot water heater every six months, to prevent sediment buildup. Others are unaware that hydrogen gas can build up inside electrically heated hot water systems when they remain inactive for two weeks or more. Hydrogen buildup requires carefully performed procedures to safely remove this flammable gas from hot water pipes. Many don’t know how and why water softening systems shorten the lives of water heaters, or that every electric hot water heater should be properly grounded with the correct gauge of copper wire.

Correct safety and maintenance measures covered in a water heater’s manual are extremely important for household safety, so every homeowner should study this to learn how to properly maintain their hot water systems. It’s also extremely important to understand the electrical dangers these appliances represent. Because a hot water heater contains electrical heating elements immersed in water, these elements can deteriorate with age and short out electrically to the water heater’s metal casing. When this happens, it’s possible to receive a severe and perhaps fatal shock when touching the hot water heater’s housing or connecting pipes. If you do not have the necessary skills to work safely around high voltage electrical conditions, you should always call a professional electrician any time you suspect a problem with your hot water heater or when you have any other electrical concerns.

When any questions about electrical safety arise, please call Bryant Electric Service at 512-402-8587. Our electricians are trained and equipped to identify any type of hazardous electrical condition, and to determine the proper repair procedures.

With a Nest thermostat, you can enjoy a lot of benefits made possible by the utilization of smart thermostat technology. Some of the more common questions that we hear regarding the use of Nest thermostats is whether or not they are compatible with zoned heating and cooling systems, and whether one Nest thermostat can replace the multiple thermostats that zone controlled systems typically use. We’ve got the answers for you in the following post, so read on and remember to schedule your thermostat services in Dover, MA with a member of our staff. We’ll make sure that you’re able to regulate temperatures effectively and reliably.

The short answer to the questions posed above is: yes. Nest thermostats can certainly be used in conjunction with zoned HVAC systems. However, you are indeed going to require multiple Nest thermostats throughout the house. While you can choose to use one Nest thermostat in a main area of your home, and to continue using more basic thermostats in other zones, this is not really advisable if you are looking to truly benefit from the use of smart technology in your home. By using multiple Nest thermostats, those devices can communicate with and benefit one another in ways that pairing a single Nest thermostat with other devices simply won’t allow for.

A key feature of the Nest thermostat is its Auto-Away coordination, which helps homeowners to save energy when the house is empty. When you use multiple Nest thermostats in your home, you won’t have to worry about certain zones going into an Auto-Away mode just because those particular zones are empty, while others are still occupied. The Nest thermostats can communicate with one another, so that Auto-Away settings won’t go into effect until the whole house is empty. When you come home at night, the Nest thermostat in your living room will let your Nest thermostat in the bedroom know, so you won’t have to go upstairs to adjust it before bed.

Wiring, cabling, and NM cable (romex) have changed over the years.  Depending on the age of your home it will most likely represent the type of wiring you have throughout your walls, ceilings, and floors.  Have one of our trained professionals identify the type and condition of the wiring in your home.  Older homes can have knob and tube wiring, cloth covered, and various PVC coated types of wiring.  Our electricians can perform an “electrical rewire” eliminating old and outdated and even dangerous wiring.  Like most things in life wiring can have a life span also.  People often take for granted the condition of the wiring in there home.  Only noting the condition of the old wiring when something happens or its to late. Take the time have your homes wiring inspected from one of our licensed electricians that specialize in old wiring.

Do you live in an older home with original wiring?  Chances are your home does not have the necessary circuits and ampacity to handle todays electrical demands.  Modern day demands were not figured in your homes original electrical plans.  Your wiring may have not been planed for dishwashers, high powered microwaves, garbage disposals, powerful vacuum motors, and all the electronics, lighting, and gadgets we have in our homes today.  Without the proper dedicated circuits, your homes wiring can be come overloaded.  Combine overloaded wiring with outdated fuses, breakers boxes and you have a set up for disaster.  Many older breaker type boxes do not trip or stop the flow of electricity at proper level or ampacity.  If you have a circuit that has had an appliance added to it or is generally just overloaded. The breaker may be allowing to much current to go through the wiring causing it to heat up and bake the wires insulation over time.  This heating of the cable can make the insulation on the wire become brittle even crack which can lead to a short circuit or spark causing a fire.

Our electricians can provide you with a safe and cost effective solution to your homes older wiring.  Our electricians are experts at electrical rewires and specialize in older homes.  They have many specialized tools and unique tools designed to get to wiring to the necessary places without damaging your homes walls or ceilings.  Tools such as wall cameras, fish rods, magnetic wire pullers, fish tapes, and wire tracers can be used to perform electrical rewires more efficiently and safely then ever before.  We can pull the proper permits for any city or county in the state of Iowa.  If you live in Des Moines, Ankney, Norwalk, West Des Moines, Altoona, Indianola, Ames, Grimes, Johnston or any Des Moines metro city we can help you with your homes electrical wiring every step of the way.