It is important to know the basic information about workplace electrical risks and prevention, especially if you are working in the Here are some of the most common workplace electrical risks:

Faulty Equipment: Equipment that isn’t working properly can cause electrical shocks. These shocks can cause serious injury in and of themselves, but can also lead to workers falling off ladders or other platforms. Faulty equipment and electrical appliances can also cause fires.

Misuse of Equipment: Workers who do not have adequate training on certain pieces of equipment may not follow all the necessary safety precautions. This can result in electrical shocks or fire.

Misperceptions: Workers may be working on or near equipment which they thought which they thought was dead but is actually live.

If you are working around electrical equipment, it is highly likely that you might encounter workplace electrical risks on a daily basis. Raising awareness for you and your co-workers, in addition to proper care and maintenance of electrical equipment is key in preventing hazards, injury and damage.  That’s why it’s so important to familiarize yourself with potential dangers, learn how to avoid them, and be prepared in case of emergency. Good luck keeping yourself and your workplace safe.

Many people believe that the only time they need to call an electrician is when something is wrong in their home. That’s not true! There are a number of quick and easy jobs you can call an electrician for that can make you more comfortable and make your home safer and more efficient—changes you can make without breaking the bank!

Light fixtures – want to remodel a bedroom, family room, or den? Before you start knocking down walls, think of what a difference new lighting will make! With so many designs and styles of lighting, including recessed lighting and track lighting, you can create a truly new look without even changing the paint!

Ceiling fans – there’s not a lot that a new ceiling fan can’t do. Adding a ceiling fan to your bedroom or living room can help lower your heating and cooling costs, improve airflow in the room, and even add a touch of style. There are a huge number of ceiling fan designs and styles to choose from, including those that double as lights. Fans circulate air and keep things from getting stuffy and hot in the summer months, and stuffy and cold in the winter months!

Click here to learn more about ceiling and attic fan installation »

Bathroom fans – adding or upgrading exhaust fans is an oft-overlooked home improvement job that can actually make your home much safer and more comfortable. Bathroom fans pull in moisture from the bathroom when you take a shower (or from steam in the kitchen when cooking), which prevents water damage and inhibits the growth of mold and mildew. There are now bath fans available that include lights and heaters to add some warmth and light to your bathroom as well.

Upgrading your electrical system doesn’t have to mean a complete overhaul of your home’s wiring or something equally major—a few minor tweaks can get you saving money and living more comfortably, day in and day out! If you’re interested in any electrical upgrades in your home, call Kolb Electric today!

Before you deck the halls and transform your Florida home into a festival of lights this holiday, consider how your lighting display will affect your winter electric bills. Monthly bills can be especially expensive when you and your neighbors beautifully decorate your homes with holiday ENERGY STAR® qualified LED light strands you will save on your utility bills this holiday. And that’s not their only advantage—Use a timer to automatically turn on your holiday lights at dusk and turn off in the middle of the night. By limiting the amount your lights are on to times when people can appreciate them, you will reduce your energy bills.

There are plenty of ways to decorate your home for the holidays—ways that don’t impact your electric bills! Make use of other decorations like tinsel, wreaths, and jingling bells! Instead of decorating the front of your St. Petersburg home with strands of lights, consider buying a solar powered spotlight with different color filters. There are many ways to enjoy the beauty of the holidays without raising your electric bills exponentially.

Once someone has discovered retrofitting as a read that by clicking here.

Let’s get started with the first question on the list, and that is what exactly is a retrofit kit?

What is a retrofit kit anyways? Well, we’ve actually reducing your energy consumption even more. Just make sure you are buying a LED retrofit kit that has the option to be dimmable, otherwise you will NOT be able to dim them.

Retrofit vs full replacement, why should you consider retrofitting with LED?

While a full replacement of an entire is fixture is very valid to do especially when they are outdated or literally falling apart; often times you can avoid that by retrofitting your fixtures. With retrofitting you get to keep your old fixture but just replace the light source in it with a new one. This will allow you to reduce the costs associated with the lighting upgrade tremendously, which will allow you to realize a much larger ROI.

Although there are benefits of both, you need to think about your facility or buildings own situation, and go from there. To recap; retrofitting is great if you can keep your old fixtures but if you can’t (due to reasons like outdated or near falling apart), then a full replacement is probably the better option.

For more info, check out this infographic (

Why should I even switch to LED in the first place?

Very good question, and this not only applies to those retrofitting but for any facility that plans to make a lighting system update. LED technology has vast benefits in almost every area of the definition “quality” for commercial lighting purposes. Here are just a few of the major benefits that more often than not win over businesses to commit to the conversion over to LED technology:

As you can see these are all some pretty big benefits, and that’s only the start. These reasons are why many companies are making the conversion over to LED products from other outdated technologies such as metal halide, HPS, and even fluorescent. Why not convert to LED with a retrofit LED kit and realize all of these benefits and more? It just makes sense!

Is it difficult to retrofit an existing light fixture?

Well, that can depend. To someone who has no knowledge about lighting fixtures and electrical wiring, then yes this will seem like an extremely difficult task. On the other hand for someone who is a professional, this isn’t a difficult task at all.

The process, in theory, is simple because all it consists of (for the most part) is a replacement of all the existing lamps, ballasts, sockets, and brackets with new ones to fit your retrofit kits. If you have no experience doing this, and even if you do, it is always recommended to bring in a licensed electrician if you can to ensure it is done right and to safety standards.

Are LED retrofits that are compatible with existing ballasts a good idea?

You need to consider the age of the ballast that is currently installed. In most cases, it will be nearing the end of it’s life and thus it won’t be the most up-to-date ballast that you could have. This adds for an additional point of failure, which could cost you more down the line in maintenance fees to replace them when they die out.

You have to consider that since you are considering the switch over to LEDs through retrofitting, you most likely haven’t recently upgraded you lighting system or replaced much. This means that the ballasts currently installed are most likely, at best, as old as the lights in your fixtures currently. But more often or not, they are even older than that which can definitely mean they are nearing the end of their lifespan.

Taking this all into account, it’s impossible to tell you if using existing ballasts is a contact us. We will gladly answer any question you may have!