Anytime you notice something strange happening with your heating system, you should probably call a professional to look at it. Better to be overly cautious than to have your heater suddenly break down on you. However, there are some conditions which need to be dealt with without delay. As soon as you notice these emergency conditions, you need to call a professional immediately. Let’s take a look at some of the times that you should call for emergency call FB Electrical Services. We provide emergency heating repair throughout the Boston area.

Homeowners in Allen and other parts of North Texas know what time of year this is—and they keep the phone number for their top Allen electrician handy. Why? Springtime in North Texas is well-known for its potentially severe weather. Severe storms, along with extreme temperatures and lightning are just a few of the conditions responsible for rolling blackouts, power surges and power outages. Our weakened power grid and a growing population does nothing to alleviate the situation, which is why many turn to their top Allen electrician for tips on how to deal with the storm season.

Storm Season Tips

With the weather in North Texas being so unpredictable, how can you be sure that you are prepared to tackle what Mother Nature dishes out? Follow these simple tips to protect your home, your electrical system and your family from dangerous and frightening conditions.

#1 Have your electrical system checked regularly. With this storm season upon us, it is extremely important that you get in touch with your Allen electrician and have him look over your circuit breakers, wiring and outlets as part of his regular maintenance. Flaws in your electrical system, be it with breakers, wiring or any other aspect, combined with unpredictable weather, is the recipe for a very, very bad situation.

#2 Use power surge protectors on all your appliances. Did you know that, even a lightning strike that hits miles from your home can affect your appliances? Power surge protectors show up often in storm season tips everywhere, and there’s a reason why. Power surges can be deadly for your appliances and anything else hooked up directly into the outlet, particularly during lightning storms.

#3 Install a built-in surge protector on your circuit panel. This will protect everything hooked to the circuit panel from potentially damaging surges. Even when the power is restored after an outage, it often still does not come on right away; instead, it flickers, which shoots and cuts off electricity randomly to your appliances, ultimately causing damage.

#4 Always keep a weather radio handy. Weather alert radios are an invaluable addition to your home’s severe weather kit. In case of an emergency, an outage, lightning strike or blackout, you will have access to weather updates, evacuation information (if necessary), and instructions on how to keep your family and home safe in the event of bad weather.

#5 Invest in an indoor generator. Indoor generators are a great way to take a little pressure off of the overloaded power grid during a power surge or blackout. When there’s a blackout, the indoor generator kicks in, keeping a steady flow of electricity going to your home and keeping your appliances from getting damaged. Some generators are solar-powered, which can save you energy, time and money.

ElectricMan: Helping You Prepare

Severe stormy weather doesn’t have to be scary, inconvenient, dangerous or costly. Following these simple storm season tips can ensure that you and your family are spared the expenses and headaches that come with unpredictable weather in North Texas. For 27 years, ElectricMan has dealt with all sorts of electrical issues resulting from severe weather. Call us today at 972-301-2630 to learn more about how we can help you prepare for a stormy season. For more helpful tips on keeping your home’s electrical system running well, keep checking in with us at blog.electricmaninc.com or check out our website at www.electricmaninc.com today!

Have you ever received a nasty shock when your electric bill arrived? Maybe the amount you owed skyrocketed when you turned on the air conditioning for the summer, or the refrigerator started breaking down and consumed an excess of electricity. No matter what the cause of your sky-high electric bill, once you use the electricity, you have to pay for it. One way you can get a heads-up on any unusually high consumption is to keep an eye on your electric meter. Read on to learn how to read the meter so you are prepared when the bill shows up at your door.

Is Your Meter Digital or Dialed?

If you're lucky, you have a newer electric meter with a digital display, making it a cinch to see how much current is coming in. Simply compare your consumption from one month to another and you'll quickly be able to figure out if you're using up more energy than normal.

Traditional electric meters are a bit trickier to read, but you don't have to be an electrician to decipher them. These older meters have dials instead of a digital display, and they don't all spin in the same direction. With a little practice, however, you can figure out how much power you are using and get a ballpark idea about what the bill will be.

Spinning Clockwise, Spinning Counterclockwise

On a traditional electric meter, there are five dials that go between 0 and 9. To read the meter, follow these steps:

There's one more twist -- if the dial is pointing exactly to a number, and the next dial to the right points to a nine, you should subtract one from the dial that points to the exact number.

Now you've got your reading, and you can simply track how much it changes from month to month to get a handle on your energy use.

Getting Smart About Your Meter

If your utility has already implemented smart electric meters, it's even easier to follow your consumption. Not only is the display in easy-to-read digital form, but the meter can provide updates on how much you're using as often as every fifteen minutes. That way, you can get an alert in real-time if your usage spikes so you can track down the culprit before you have to shell out a fortune in bills.

In addition to monitoring your own consumption, it's a good idea to watch the meter so you will know if the utility company accidentally overcharges you. If you need any help figuring out how to read your meter, contact a trusted electrician today.

The rule of 3’s. They’re the triple threat of lighting design. Three types of lighting: ambient, task and accent. Three levels of design: top, middle & bottom. For today’s blog post I’ve put together a quick reference guide on what the different layers are, along with a few tips on how to use them to pull your space together.

Three Layers of Light: Ambient, Task & Accent

this interactive picture that shows the dramatic difference in a kitchen after under cabinet lights were added. (That’s next on my project list!)

3. Accent lights add depth & dimension and showcase individual items or areas. A favorite painting or photograph displayed under a picture light on the wall is a popular way to accent with lighting. One of my favorite examples of decorative outdoor accent lighting are Annie’s original post to see if you’re right.]

Three Layers of Design: Top, Middle & Bottom

The choice of a LED product is guided by watching specifications tables. Here is one table accompanied by the explanation of the features. The result should be a good lighting solution that is leaving a green ecological footprint. A good lighting solution is emitting enough light that the tasks in space can be conducted properly. First the lumens of the fixture (responsible for brightness in the room), the CRI (how good is the lighting concept representing colors), color temperature (how is the ambience in the room) and lumen per watt (efficiency of the system) are recommended to be watched. These criteria are responsible for a good lighting quality and energy efficient solution.

The other features are necessary information too. They serve further details about the fixture, the setup and maintenance of the lighting system.

(1) Type: The products name is a detail for purchasing the fixture

(2) Wattage: Defines the energy consumption of the fixture, which is important for the electrician and the ecological footprint of the system (referring to Lumens per Watts)

(3) CRI: Important character in areas where colors should be truly represented. For applications where people are involved, a CRI lower than 70 is not recommended. In shopping areas a CRI of 90 and higher is applicable.

(4) Lumens: responsible for the brightness in a room. The more lumens, the brighter the fixture is illuminating the space.

(5) Lumen per Watt: Efficiency of the lighting system. The higher the lm/W the better the ecological footprint of the product.

(6) Lumen Maintenance: how fast LEDs lose their brightness compared to new products (most manufacturers refer to the time when most of the LEDs reach 70% and less of the initial lumen output)

(7) Color Temperature: defines the mood or ambience in a room. Low quality lighting fixtures mostly have a very cool color temperature as these LEDs are more efficient than warm white LED products. A color temperature higher than 6000K is not recommended for a lot of areas.

(8) Beam Angle: the light is radiated into the indicated beam angle. LEDs are direct light sources with typical beam angles of 120° till 180°.

(9) Life Hours: defines the lifetime of a LED product. LEDs last 50,000h up to 100,000h.

(10) Replaces: a helpful information for replacing conventional light sources

(11) Working Voltage: high quality LED products have an integrated driver, Retrofit Solutions are delivered with the suitable ballast already.

(12) Frequency: detail about the admitted voltage frequency

(13) Power Factor: Efficiency of the ballast

(14) THD: Total harmonic distortion is describing the distortion caused by ballasts and other inductive loads of the input current on alternating current (AC) power systems

(15) Operating Temperature: The light source is operating under the mentioned conditions according to the manufacturer datasheet, other temperatures will cause the light source to fail or work not properly (e.g. light loss, different color temperature)

(16) IP Rating: the protection of the light source, ballast and wiring against liquids and solid objects

(17) Dimmable: dimming is the change in light source brightness, mostly undertaken by smart controls

(18) Dimensions: the fixture’s size, important for the definition of the mounting position and space

(19) Net Weight: the fixture’s weight, important for the mounting construction, e.g.ceiling strongness needs to be considered

(20) Housing: the housing is the surrounding of the light source and ballast, the higher the IP rating, the better the protection against liquids and solid objects which is important in car washes for example, the coating is important in swimming halls where the luminaires are exposed to chloride and humid conditions

(21) Mounting: possible mounting ways like pendant, surface or hock mount

(22) Warranty: how long after purchasing, the products are ensured working properly