You look up. Movement. What is this? It looks like your fluorescent lights have come alive! They’re swirling and spiraling, like each one has an angry snake inside. This is no good. The light level in your room isn’t even. The fixtures flicker, annoyingly, and your eyes start to feel overworked and tired.

Has it ever happened that you noticed an inexplicable rise in your electricity bill in spite of using the same appliances for the same amount of time that you generally do? No, the neighbor’s bill didn’t get delivered to you accidentally and neither is it the fault of your electrical services provider. There might be a number of other reasons behind a rise in your bill amount, which generally aren’t taken into account by a majority of people. Let’s take a look at them –

1. Faulty Appliances If your domestic appliances like washing machines, air conditioners, dishwashers, etc., are faulty, they will consume more energy than normal. Also, faulty wiring can damage the appliances in the long term, lead to electric fires or even get electrically charged, which may give you life-threatening shocks if you come in their direct contact.

Looking for an electrician in Baltimore or Bethesda, MD? Perhaps you need one in Alexandria, VA or Washington, DC. No matter where in the DC Metropolitan area you need an electrician, make sure you enlist the services of a licensed electrician. There are many benefits of hiring licensed electricians, and learning about these benefits will help you determine if this is the right course of action for you.

Licensed electricians:

When you enlist the services of a licensed electrical contractor, you can be sure that the electrician is fully knowledgeable about the complex workings of the electrical system in your home. Many people think they can learn the skills needed to do minor household electrical work, but the truth is that your home’s electrical system is more complex than you realize. Our electricians are fully licensed and have years of experience completing electrical installations and repairs in homes throughout MD, VA, and DC. They have successfully completed rigorous training, which means they have the skill set necessary to handle any electrical issue.

A licensed electrician understands all the codes and regulations in place for residential and commercial electrical work. The National Electrical Code (NEC), or NFPA 70, is a regionally adoptable standard for the safe installation of electrical wiring and equipment in the United States. Rest assured that the electricians here at Kolb Electric have a thorough understanding of NEC requirements as it pertains to circuit breaker replacement, panel upgrades, surge protection, and more.

By trusting a licensed electrical contractor to take care of your residential or commercial electrical needs, you can feel confident knowing that the electrician will have all the tools and equipment necessary to complete the job—accurately and in a timely manner. Homeowners, in most cases, simply do not have the proper tools and equipment necessary to complete electrical jobs, small or large.

There’s a reason the NEC standard has been put into place for electrical work—it functions as a critical safety measure. Hiring a licensed electrical contractor is safer than if you were to do the job yourself. Working with electricity can be very dangerous, but skilled professionals understand how to complete electrical work safely.

Kolb Electric is a full-service electrical contractor providing electrical services, including troubleshooting, circuit breaker replacement, panel upgrades, and surge protection. We also offer installation of ceiling and attic fans, outdoor lighting, light switches, dimmers, and light fixtures.

We fully support and promote the continuing education of our expert electricians. Call us or contact us online so we can handle your electrical needs—we’ll get it right the first time around.

Insect Vision: Ultraviolet, Color, and LED Light, Marianne Shockley Cruz and Rebecca Lindner from the University of Georgia’s Department of Entomology write, “Experimental work supports the idea that color perception exists in insects and that they are especially responsive to the shorter wavelengths of the visible spectrum and UV light.” Wavelengths are measured in nanometers, and shorter wavelengths of light (less than 550 nanometers) can indicate ultraviolet (UV), blue, or green colors. Cruz and Lindner also cite work that confirms the correlation between UV light from the sun and moon and how certain bugs navigate Earth. Another point to remember about bugs is that certain types, such as mosquitoes, are attracted to heat and have thermal receptors to help them find it. All of this information is helpful for determining why bugs flock to certain light sources.

The color that is emitted from a light source is important because of its ability to attract bugs. As previously stated, shorter wavelengths (UV, blue, and green light) are more visible to bugs than longer wavelengths (yellow, orange, and red light) and, therefore, will draw them closer. Incandescent, compact fluorescent (CFL), halogen, and high-intensity discharge (HID) lights emit UV radiation that is attractive to bugs, and since certain types of bugs navigate by UV light from the sun and moon, a closer, brighter source of UV light can disrupt their orientation and draw them in. LEDs produce very little to no UV light, which makes them less visible to bugs. However, it is still possible for an LED bulb to produce shorter wavelengths of light (bluish-white/cool white color), which will be more attractive to bugs. Therefore, when browsing for LED lights that will attract less bugs, it’s important to choose a fixture that emits more wavelengths that are above 550 nanometers, such as warm white, ultra warm white, or yellow lights.

CCT) instead of nanometers, it’s easy to tell if the bulb will be more or less visible to bugs. CCT is measured in Kelvin (K), and different temperatures on the Kelvin scale represent different colors. An LED bulb with a CCT below 3600K will emit warm or ultra warm white light that’s not easily seen by bugs. Bulbs with CCTs of 3600K and above will emit natural or cool white light that is more likely to attract bugs.

Incandescent, halogen, CFL, and HID bulbs waste most of the energy they consume—as much as 90 percent—in the form of heat. Bugs with thermal receptors can sense the heat released by these light sources. LED bulbs produce a minuscule amount of heat, which makes them less appealing to bugs.

Bug lights are simply light bulbs with a yellow coating that decreases the color temperature of emitted light. Because of the coating, bulbs will emit a peak wavelength of light that is around 550-600 nanometers. However, you don’t need a yellow-coated bulb to reduce the presence of bugs. LED lights that emit warm-colored illumination, such as yellow malibu light bulbs for landscape applications, or From top left to bottom right: incandescent bug light, yellow LED strip lights, yellow LED malibu light bulb installed in landscape fixture, and gold-tint LED filament bulbs

Ecologist Michael Justice performed an experiment to determine the type of residential light that attracts the least amount of bugs. He used six lighting types inside of an insect trap each night during the summer. Justice also made efforts to equalize the effects of weather and the moon’s irradiance. His LED Z-Bug Bulb™ from NEBO is a bug zapper and an LED bulb in one. The bulb emits white illumination from its top and ultraviolet (UV) light from its caged center. The UV light attracts mosquitoes and other insects toward the bulb’s high-voltage electric grid and kills them on contact.

Because different types of bugs see different wavelengths, it is never guaranteed that an LED light won’t attract them. However, most bugs are attracted to short wavelengths of light and are especially drawn to UV light; they can see it better, and some use it for navigation. Bulbs that emit more short wavelengths of light (cool white/bluish color) will attract more bugs. Lights that emit a majority of longer wavelengths (yellow/orange/red colors) are less visible. Heat can also draw bugs into an area. LED lights produce little to no UV light and a minuscule amount heat, which makes them less attractive to bugs—so long as they emit longer wavelengths of light.

Electrical conduits are an electrical piping system made of plastic, metal, or fiber, that are used to provide wiring or cable route to protect it. The use, form and installation details for electrical conduits are specified by the wiring regulations such as the US National Electrical Code (NEC) or other national or local code.

The location of an electrical conduit will usually determine what kind of material may be used. Since electrical conduits are used mainly in the outer wall surface in exposed locations, they are made of a material that is either flexible or rigid.

The following are the most commonly used materials:

Rigid steel The type of conduit system that is to be applied depends upon the wall thickness, mechanical stiffness and the material used to make the tubing. The material can be chosen for mechanical protection, corrosion resistance and for cutting the costs on installation charges. As far as wiring regulations for electrical equipment in hazardous areas are concerned, certain kinds of conduits need to be used depending on the regulation specifications.