Now that my wife has married an electrician, she insists that I take every possible measure to ensure that the electrical system of our Los Angeles home is safe. One important step was to ensure that it’s properly grounded.

What is electrical grounding, anyway? Grounding adds a safety factor for your family and your electronics. Here’s how it works. Electricity travels the path of least resistance. If an appliance like a toaster breaks, electricity can flow on the metal outside of the toaster. Touching it could result in a serious shock, causing injury or even death. But if the electrical system is grounded and the toaster is plugged in with three prongs, the electricity won’t flow to the outside of the toaster. Instead it will flow through the third prong back into the wires and harmlessly into Mother Earth. Thus, the term “grounding.”

An electrical system can be grounded with various types of devices. A “ground wire” is simply a wire attached to your electrical system that’s been pushed securely into the ground. Metal pipes (electricians call them “conduit”) that hold and protect your electrical wires can also act as a grounding device. Sometimes, grounding is provided by running a wire from your electrical system and attaching it to metal plumbing pipes that run into the earth.

Grounding protects not only people but also sensitive electronics. Without grounding, electrical charges build up in wiring and create slight but continuous damage to delicate electronics. This damage can shorten the lives of computers, phones, and any electrical appliance that has “smart” (computer) components — possibly your fridge or dryer.

How can I tell if my electrical system is grounded? Homes built before 1950 were sometimes grounded. Homes built after 1950 were usually grounded. Even if your system was originally grounded, wiring mistakes may have rendered the grounding ineffective. The only way to know for sure is to have a qualified electrician check out your electrical system with a special tester. My electrical company, The Electric Connection, offers this check as a complementary service. It’s part of our Free Home Safety Inspection when we do an electrical job for an L.A. resident or business. If you’re outside Los Angeles County, you may find an electrical contractor who offers testing as a free service or as a service call.

My electrical outlets have three prongs — are they grounded? If your home has electrical outlets which accept three prongs, it MAY have a grounded system. The third prong allows an appliance to be grounded IF it’s plugged into an electrical system that has a grounding device.

Sometimes three-pronged outlets have been installed in electrical systems that aren’t grounded. This can make it look like the system is grounded when it’s not. Do-it-yourselfers or handymen may install three-pronged outlets in an ungrounded system not realizing the hazard or that such a set-up violates the National Electrical Code.

Sleep sounder with a grounded electrical system If you’ll sleep sounder knowing that your family and electronics are safe, give your electrician a call. If you’re in L.A. County, we at The Electric Connection will be happy to provide you with a full safety check of your electrical system, including grounding. Give us a call at (800) 990-9490 between 8 and 5. If you have other electrical work that you want us to do, use this coupon for a Home Electrical Safety Check and we’ll add your safety check for free.

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Modern buildings, commercial spaces, and even homes increasingly implement advanced building automation and control technology to improve energy efficiency, user comfort, and extend the life cycles of equipment.

At the core of any building automation system, or BAS, remains a central computing hub. This is where software processes the variety of signals it receives from connected sensors, switches, and user inputs. In a typical home, a Wi-Fi network connects devices wirelessly. Further, it will often connect them to the internet, allowing remote access from any web-connected device.

The only real difference between homeowner systems and commercial applications is scale. A large building can have many more devices and sensors connected, but the core function remains the same. The primary focus of commercial systems, however, is energy efficiency over user convenience.

In a large building or factory, even a small percentage of energy savings can have a huge benefit, not only in lower utility costs but also in reductions of CO2 emissions. With an efficient BAS, a building can attain a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating, which is a measure of energy efficiency and low environmental impact in building design.

As technology advances, the potential risks grow for building automation. Each day, more devices become connected to the internet. This is now referred to as the “Internet of Things”. The ease and convenience increases, but so does the potential reward for hackers. Anything controlled by the user or by software could potentially be taken over by a malicious hacker.

It is vital that digital security remains a priority, especially in a home setting. Many smart devices are not as secure as they may seem and are often only as secure as the home’s Wi-Fi network. Some good first steps include changing your Wi-Fi network’s password to something unique. Use the latest encryption protocols and enable MAC address filtering, which allows only devices specifically approved to connect to the network.

Building automation systems will continue to grow in ability and convenience. As long as the potential risks are managed, the possibilities for energy efficiency and user comfort remain nearly endless.

Throughout the modern age, we have become desensitized to the radical displacement of major products, categories, and even whole industries. It’s amazing how one simple technological innovation can change the way we use a major product or service in our lives; one of today’s largest examples of this is how LED bulbs are rapidly displacing the standard incandescent or CFL bulb.

VCRs, cassette tapes, home phones, movie stores, steam engines, and more have been added to the list of technologies that were once considered revolutionary, but are now just a novelty. The same will soon be said for CFL and, especially, incandescent light bulbs, as LED bulbs seem to outperform their predecessors in nearly every way.

There are really only two ways to point to an LED bulb and find that it has any flaws when compared to a standard light bulb: They don’t last (quite) as long when kept in a closely confined container that is left on for extended periods and they cost more to purchase. The former issue is solved by adjusting the type of fixture you install LED bulbs in (or losing the fixture altogether, as LEDs don’t need them nearly as much) and the latter is an ever-decreasing problem, as LEDs are becoming more-and-more mass produced and affordable. Even now, for a couple extra bucks, your 4-pack of LED bulbs will pay for themselves with a single bulb in about a year, then continue to last far longer – likely years – longer than an incandescent bulb bought on the same day would have.

One of the major criticisms to LED bulbs was once that the light was too pristine, not natural enough, or just generally felt different. Now, however, LED manufacturers have begun to perfect making LED bulbs replicate and exceed the capabilities of standard light bulbs. In fact, LED bulbs can now even be purchased to replicate vintage-style bulbs (often called Edison bulbs), that fully function on a dimmable switch and provide all the exoticl pizzaz of classic bulbs without the abysmal lifespan. It is reasonable to expect that as LED lights continue to replace incandescent bulbs in standard applications that they will take their place in other areas, including colorful, uniquely-shaped, and even more exotic or rare fixture fittings.

You’ve likely heard the claims of savings and safety features associated with LED bulbs; if you’re skeptical, then worry not, most every claim about LED bulbs is true or even understated. LED bulbs are so much more efficient, reliable, stable, and long-lasting than incandescent bulbs in nearly all situations, that there really are almost no reasons to not choose LED over your standard bulbs. In fact, it is likely not worth waiting for your current bulbs to die, but, instead, upgrade your entire household now; the savings is so significant that you’ll likely save money on your electrical bill in under a year.

Whenever you need electrical work done around your Des Moines home, contact the experienced professionals at Electrical Gurus. We are proud to offer the finest licensed local electricians in the area and are always more than happy to help out on your household projects.