Season’s Greetings from Kolb Electric, and a Happy Holiday to all! It’s about time to deck the halls, but before you do, our experts wanted to chip in and offer a little advice. The holidays are a wonderful time of the year, but with all of the hustle, bustle, decorating, and general chaos, safety occasionally falls by the wayside. Don’t let this happen!

At Kolb Electric, we take the safety and security of our customers very seriously. We want to be called on for repairs, replacement and installations, any time, any day. What we don’t want is to hear about our customers encountering dangerous electrical situations that could be avoided with a little know-how and understanding. Keep yourself and your family safe from electrical burns when handling your holiday lighting this year with these general safety tips.

Despite all preparation, and beyond our control, occasionally accidents will happen. In the event of electrical burns, a quick and informed response is crucial. Immediately report to the emergency room if the injured experience:

Electrical burns can pose a very serious threat if left untreated. Even if the injured displays none of these signs, it’s best to seek medical treatment right away.

relatively high ceilings. Drive by any industrial park, warehouse, or factory, and walk inside and what you will see is a high bay light.

But walk into any factory or warehouse and you will see different styles and options, wattage’s and configurations. Traditional high bay fixtures that were once common place were Mercury Vapor, which were then replaced with High Pressure Sodium and Metal Halide bulbs. As new technologies were introduced, and old technologies became more common, the old HID bulbs were replaced with Induction and Fluorescent light sources. And more recently with the more wide spread approval and popularity of LED, we started to see conversions from these older technologies to the latest energy saving LED High Bays.

A High Bay Fixture, depending on the light source, can take on many forms and shapes. If you consider a Metal Halide or High Pressure Sodium fixture, they typically consist of a large heat sink block at the top of the fixture that typically houses the fixtures ballast. Below is an aluminum or acrylic dome and at the top of the dome is the HID bulb. These bulbs typically come in two wattage’s, 400 and 1000. 400 Watt Fixtures tend to be installed in ceiling heights no higher than 30 feet, 1000 watt fixtures are typically 40 feet or higher. Interestingly enough, spacing of lights is similar to the height they are located off the floor. A fixture installed at 20 feet from the floor is installed in a 20X20 pattern, 30 feet in a 30X30 pattern, 40 feet in a 40X40 pattern. Of the 3 type of HID bulbs, Metal Halide tends to be the best option. High Pressure Sodium Bulbs are very low on the temperature color and have the warehouse aisles have the ability to focus the light where it is needed. A light designed for a warehouse aisle is a lot different than a light designed for a gymnasium or a factory floor. In these spaces, a light that can flood the area evenly is important, in a warehouse aisle, a light that can light up the face of the shelves and the floor below is important. And when selecting energy efficient options, its just as important to understand the technology and what it is capable of doing. Adding controls to a T5 fluorescent fixture is a good idea only if the ballast is designed to handle that requirement and not lower the life expectancy of the bulbs. Motions sensors and daylight controls that dim the light output based on occupants and the amount of daylight available in the space. Technologies such as metal halide and high pressure sodium are not a good choice as these technologies are not good at dimming or turn on or off quickly. Fluorescent can dim, but you need special ballasts for them. So knowing what you want to do and may want to do is important at time of purchase, because not having the proper equipment or options could mean a costly lighting warehouses, factories, gyms and readily available through the utility companies, and mass adoption means the technology of LED had matured to the point where the questions and disbelief of past years have gone away.

Saffron’s Drift Light is here to help. The Drift Light is like a normalAmanda Kooser reviewed the Drift Light earlier in the month. Kooser reports that during the first night, she was highly aware of the way the light was dimming, but during the next few nights, she never caught the light turning off because she was already asleep. As somone who claims to have “notorious” sleeping troubles, this would imply that the Drift Light works pretty well.

Kooser says that since you know the LED light bulb will dim over the course of 37 minutes, it’s easy to plan for the light to turn off around the time you want to fall asleep. The most compelling statement Kooser makes about the Drift Light: “There is something soothing about the world dimming around you. It’s like being a kid with an early bedtime, sensing the sun set outside your window.”

I’m interested to see if this product will become popular. Have you ever tried anything like this to improve your sleeping habits? Leave a comment, and let us know!

If you are looking for a Garland electrician, be sure to find one who cares enough about safety to help determine if your home is up to par. Some older homes often lack basic precautionary features that are inexpensive, yet vital to the safety of the family. One of these features is the GFCI, and any Garland electrician should be able to determine if your home has one.

Recently in Texas, a family experienced a heartbreaking illustration of what can happen without a GFCI. The mother was bathing her two children, ages five and six, when a hairdryer that was plugged into a nearby outlet fell into the tub. Both children were killed by the electrical current passing into the bathwater.

One of the most horrifying things about this story is that this accident was preventable! Installing a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter, or GFCI, could have saved these children’s lives, at a cost of less than $60. The circuit in their bathroom was not equipped with this simple piece of equipment, simply because their home was an older home.

When the electrical current is imbalanced, it indicates that the current is passing through something that it is not intended to pass through. A GFCI handles that situation by quickly interrupting the flow of current before it can do harm. Water is an especially dangerous conductor of current, so a GFCI should be installed everywhere that an electrical device might be plugged in near water. This means that GFCIs should be on outlets in not only kitchens and bathrooms, but also in garages, outside, near countertops, and near hot tubs and pools. While a layperson might not realize that, an electrician should. That is why, whether you are looking for a Dallas, Garland, or Rowlett electrician, you should make sure to find one with enough experience to spot potential hazards before they cause tragic results.

One of the best Garland electrical teams you will find is the crew at ElectricMan, Inc. Available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, ElectricMan’s team is made up of trained electricians who care about the safety of families. To learn more about finding an electrician Garland homeowners can trust, visit the website. For a deeper connection, join the online community on ElectricMan’s social sites, or call (972)792-7270.