Department of Energy. In the summer, keep your thermostat at a minimum of 78°F—no higher. And in the winter, try 68°F.

Most people are actually perfectly comfortable at this temperature—more so than they may think. When elderly relatives or small children live in the home, these settings may not be possible, but they can help most people save money while they are home.

Here is one of the most common misconceptions about heating and air conditioning systems: turning down the temperature all the way will help the home cool off faster, and turning the heat up as high as possible warms a home faster. This simply isn’t the case.

With time, lower temperatures will make the house colder, but it won’t happen any faster. Your air conditioner runs nonstop to reach the setting on the temperature, which is less than what you need to be comfortable. Then, you end up paying way more than you should, and you may not really be comfortable.

The same is true when you continuously get up to adjust the thermostat settings. The AC/heater simply becomes overworked, and this is something you want to avoid. Use your programmable thermostat to keep temperatures stable instead.

When you leave the home, it’s important to use the programming settings on your thermostat to keep temperatures about 10° lower (in the winter) or higher (when it’s hot outside). This way, you don’t waste energy cooling or heating a home that is unoccupied.

However, you don’t want to change the temperature by too much. Let’s say it’s summer and you are away for the day. You shut off the AC completely and turn it on when it gets home. Now, the air conditioner has to work hard to get back up to speed, which may use up even more energy than keeping it at a higher temperature for the day.

Many people are unsure of how to effectively use their thermostats for energy efficiency. Get to know your thermostat by spending some time reading the thermostat. You may be able to use programming options to set different schedules on weekends and weekdays, or to make changes throughout the day.

If your thermostat is over 10 years old, it may be time for a new one. New smart thermostats allow you to set schedules or make changes directly from your smartphone. Ask a local technician about your options.

When you flick on the light switch, what happens? If you’re thinking “the room lights up… hopefully,” then you’re probably missing out on an opportunity for breathtaking lighting to do so much more than just let you see in the dark.

Your home should look intentional and deliberate, not just functional. Lighting is one of the best, easiest, and most easily ignored ways to make your home go from “nice place,” to “oh wow.” Seriously! Think back to the first time you saw under-cabinet lighting, for instance. Wow, talk about a way to get the most out of a space, while still showing off the best aspects out of the kitchen. That is exactly the effect that an inspired electrician can create, simply by optimizing your layout to handle some really nifty things with lighting. Even if you don’t decide to pull the trigger on the uplighting for your soon-to-come artwork, having the ability to add that in with little effort later thanks to a box hidden in the wall (just in case) takes almost no effort on our part, but can make a tremendous difference in your home’s perception, and value, down the road.

Light doesn’t just shine from one direction. Even sunlight is seen in the form of reflection, direct contact, and general ambient lighting. These simple principles are the same that should be used and recreated in your home. Your home should mirror that breathtaking view you saw on your favorite vacation, when the sunlight shone just so; conjure up that image, then imagine the architecture of your home and how it could be better illuminated. If you’re drawing a blank, don’t worry, that’s what our experienced electricians are here for. We’ll happily handle the up lighting, room lighting, and ambient lighting to create the effect that you’re looking for, even if you don’t really know how to explain it or where the circuits need to run. While all of this sounds expensive, creating a couple of extra lighting lines is simple when you’re already committing to work on your home, but becomes much more difficult later; always take advantage of the opportunity to bring an electrician and find out what is possible – 9 times out of 10, we find that homeowners who do this thank themselves for it later.

One of the biggest mistakes that builders and general contractors make is doing the bare minimum for lighting, leaving the home with nothing but a few can lights either dimly lighting the room or blinding everyone inside. Don’t let your lights let you down, or you’ll find that all your painting and furniture efforts just seem to fall flat of that wow factor you’re looking for.

Contact Electrical Gurus in Des Moines for the inspired, experienced service you need to create artistically inspired lighting for your home. When done right, you’ll find an incredible amount of value in a couple of lighting changes.

This Father’s Day, get out of the tie and money clip routine with 15 bright gift ideas that shine a light on Dad’s favorite past times. Is your dad a grill master, an adventurer, an artist or a hardcore movie buff? Or is he one of those guys that has his own personal style that can’t be nailed down to just one? Whatever the case, chances are good that we’ve got a lighting gift to match his style:

The term “arc flash” is used to describe low impedance connections in an electrical system, which allows movement of unwanted electric discharge through the air from one voltage phase to another, or to ground. This leads to a rapid rise in temperature and pressure in the air between electrical conductors, causing an explosion known as an arc blast.

Arc blasts and the resulting heat can lead to fires, pressure waves and flying shrapnel that result in serious damage to life and property. These explosions typically occur without any warning, destroy electrical equipment completely and lead to severe injury or death of personnel present within the boundary of the arc flash.

What Are the Main Causes of Arc Flash?

Arc flash occurs when several electrical conductors are placed close to each other, with significant fault currents flowing through them. In this situation, ionization of the air can take place as a result of various factors – such as differences in potential – which leads to a low resistance path and allows current to flow through the air gap between conductors.

Many people assume that low voltage equipment is safe from arc flash, but arc flash hazard levels may be higher at low voltages, due to the high fault currents. Most incidents that occur in low voltage systems are caused by human error, e.g. a tool slipping while a technician works on electrical equipment.

Arc flash can also be caused due to:

If you are the owner of a commercial building that hosts floors filled with business offices, you know you have a responsibility to ensure the building is electrically safe and in good working condition. While some corporations choose to have an in-house maintenance team, most realize that electrical work is a specialty and the typical maintenance person is not going to have an electrical license, which is why you need a trained and certified electrician in Los Angeles. You will find a great team ready to help you take care of your commercial properties at The Electric Connection.

When you are responsible for keeping tenants happy, it can be a big job. There are minor problems that are going to need to be taken care of, like replacing light fixtures inside and outside the building. Things like tripping breakers and poor connections are also common issues that arise on a weekly basis. Your Los Angeles electrician can take care of all those minor problems in a timely manner. When you are the landlord or owner of the building, you have a responsibility to solve problems quickly. You can’t afford to be put on a list that may take weeks before someone can come out.

If you have been informed of a much bigger problem, like no power to an entire office or section of the building, you will definitely need the services of a trained commercial electrician. Los Angeles property owners will need to hire a team that can maintain a professional demeanor and represent the company hiring the work as well as the businesses operating in the space. You don’t want to hire a company that isn’t professional and doesn’t have the appearance of a crew that respects business operations and personal property. Don’t hire just any electrician or person who claims to be an electrician without checking credentials. You can always count on the team at The Electric Connection to provide excellent, timely and professional service for your commercial properties.