Your landscaping is the first thing people see when they arrive at your house and the last thing they see when they leave. Lighting can make or break the way your house looks and feels. A dark, dreary house is going to look uninviting to some, but will look very inviting for those who will take advantage of the darkness. It is important you make your home inviting as well as safe with the installation of landscape and security lighting by an electrician. Pasadena homeowners can rely on The Electric Connection to help them transform their home’s yard into one that is beautiful and safe.

There are plenty of options when it comes to lighting up your yard and landscaping. You can choose to go with nice and bright or low and subtle. Mounted security lights are an excellent option and can easily be installed by your Pasadena electrician. Many of these lights are equipped with motion sensors. As soon as you step outside or pull your car into the driveway, the area will be flooded with light. This means you won’t have to worry about fumbling in the dark while you look for a switch.

Pathway lights and lights that shine on a particularly special point of interest in the yard are also excellent options. These add a layer of safety as well as make it look a little nicer. Solar lights are easily placed, but your electrician in Pasadena will tell you electric lights are a little more reliable. They also stay bright throughout the night while many of the solar lights will fade and become dim by the wee hours of the morning. Electric lights give you full control and will last for years. Give The Electric Connection a call today and get your outdoor lighting installed before spring arrives.

Finding a good electrician can be a challenge. The Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC area is filled with electrical contractors making big claims, but how do you know who you can trust? Whether you need your entire home rewired or just a relatively simple project completed like a new outlet for your clothes dryer, it’s important for your home and family’s safety to find a licensed electrician to do the work. The same is true of your workplace, where employee and client safety is a major concern.

If you’re on the search for a good electrician in the area, it’s essential to choose someone who has gone through the training, apprenticeship, and other steps necessary to be licensed by your state, whether it’s Maryland, Virginia, or the District. Working with electricity can be hazardous, both to the workers and to your home. Even a small short circuit can cause a home fire, endangering both your property and your family.

Answer that question of how do I find a good electrician by asking friends, neighbors, and colleagues for recommendations. If you’re a new homeowner or new to the area, online directories like Angie’s List can give you unbiased reviews of DC area electric contractors. The Yellow Pages can also be a good place to start.

If you’re asking yourself how to find a good electrician in the DC area, we hope you’ll consider Kolb Electric. We’ve been helping Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC homeowners like you with their electric needs for nearly 90 years. Kolb Electric is a full-service electrical contractor and all of our electricians are licensed to work in your area. We offer free, fair estimates as well as 24-hour emergency service, seven days a week. To learn how Kolb Electric can solve your electrical needs and/or to schedule an appointment, call us at 877 287-1179.

Do you find that your home’s indoor air is extremely dry? Are you frustrated by dry skin and sore throats during the winter time? Do you need something a bit more comprehensive than the small humidifiers that you can buy at the local hardware store? If you own a central air unit/furnace combo or a heat pump, then you also have a network of ducts installed in your home. A whole house humidifier may be just what you need to ensure that your air is optimized when it comes to the humidity level. Dry air can disrupt your comfort and aggravate health issues.

Smoke alarms are your first line of defense in the event of a fire.  Smoke alarms come in two main different types.  Ionization and photoelectric.

Ionization smoke alarms have a ionization chamber inside the smoke alarm unit itself.  The smoke alarm chamber consist of two plates about a centimeter apart.  One of the plates is charged positive by the battery or transformer in AC models and the other plates is negative.  Alpha particles constantly released by the americium knock electrons off of the atoms in the air, ionizing the oxygen and nitrogen atoms in the chamber. The positively-charged oxygen and nitrogen atoms are attracted to the negative plate and the electrons are attracted to the positive plate, generating a minuet, constant electrical current. Upon smoke entering the chamber, the smoke particles attach to the ions and neutralize them, so they do not reach the plate. The drop in current between the plates triggers the alarm.

Photoelectric smoke alarms have an internal chamber with a light beam.  When smoke enters the chamber it blocks the light from entering the photoelectric sensor causing an alarm to sound.  Smoke may also cause the light beam to scatter creating an inconsistent pattern on the photocell causing the smoke alarm to sound.  Photoelectric chambers can detect a smoldering fire faster than most ionization type smoke alarms.

Smoke alarms are most commonly seen as battery operated units in older homes.  Battery units are also common in situations were a smoke alarm is added and AC power is not accessible.  AC units power the smoke alarm with standard AC current from the homes wiring.  AC units are common in newer homes.  Current new construction code requires smoke alarms to be AC with a battery built into the unit as a back up power source.

Current smoke alarms used in new construction homes are AC and battery combination units as stated above.  They also require a dual sensing smoke alarm unit.  The most common dual sensing combination is either photoelectric and ionization or a combination ionization and carbon monoxide unit.

Carbon monoxide also called the invisible killer, is odorless and colorless gas.  Carbon monoxide is most commonly created in the home when unburnt or improperly vented heating equipment releases the gas.  Carbon monoxide can be created from natural gas heaters, wood burners, and oil burners.  Carbon monoxide can also enter the home from the exhaust of a running vehicle or generator.

Carbon monoxide effect some people easier than others.  People such as elderly, pregnant women, infants, and people with emphysema, asthma, or heart disease can suffer the effects of carbon monoxide much quicker than a healthy person.

We can install most major brands of smoke alarms.  We offer smoke alarm installation for Kiddie and First Alert.  In addition to Kiddie and First alert, we also offer smoke alarm installation for USI, and BRK smoke alarms.  We offer smoke alarm installation for AC units with batter backup, AC only units, and battery only units.  We highly recommended the AC with battery backup units for superior performance.  We also offer smoke alarm installation for interconnected units.  This type is highly recommended.  They function as following:  When one smoke alarm unit goes into alarm mode it causes the other smoke alarms to sound an alarm.  If access limits being able to connect the smoke alarm units we offer a wireless type smoke alarm installation to insure the units are properly interconnected.