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!

As the temperatures get cooler, Californians are going to be turning on the heat. Cold nights means a lot more people are going to be relying on their furnaces and space heaters to take the chill off. These things are electricity hogs and can quickly tax the power grid. This combined with poor weather in general can lead to a power outage. The outage may last a couple of hours of be much longer and really wreak havoc on your daily schedule as well as basic duties like making a meal, cleaning the house or taking a hot shower. Your Beverly Hills electrician has some tips to help you prepare for a temporary power outage. The team at The Electric Connection knows how much of an inconvenience living without electricity can be and hopes to help you ride it out in relative comfort.

*Your best option is to have a standby generator installed by an electrician in Beverly Hills. This ensures you always have a back up source of power and never have to go without. The generators are enclosed in a box, which helps reduce noise. You won’t have to worry about your neighbors complaining about the noisy generator.

*Putting together a kit that includes essentials like spare batteries, flashlights, emergency candles, matches and a solar charger for your phone and other gadgets will save you a lot of frustration. The solar chargers are relatively inexpensive and ensure your phone, laptop and tablet will get charged.

*Put together a little box of goodies that you can eat without worrying about heating the food up. Things like crackers, energy bars and a couple cans of beans will give you something to munch on while you wait for the power to be restored. Don’t forget the manual can opener.

Power outages are rarely very long, but even an hour without electricity can throw you off a bit. Avoid dealing with it by talking with an electrician. Beverly Hills homeowners who invest in a standby generator will never have to worry about eating cold beans for dinner. Give The Electric Connection a call today to learn more about generators and preparing for power outages.

The good news is that heating systems in modern homes are safer than they’ve ever been before. But while many people never experience any major risk to their safety due to a furnace or boiler, it’s still a possibility. Any heating system that uses combustion to work, like a natural gas furnace, could potentially leak a dangerous gas called carbon monoxide (CO, for short) into the home.

The heat exchanger is where combustion produces a flame as natural gas ignites. This heat is contained within a heat exchanger made of aluminum or steel. It is essentially a curved tube, and the smoke and carbon monoxide byproducts vent through the other end and out of the house. Air blows over the heat exchanger to heat up and is sent to the ducts running throughout the home.

Unfortunately, over time, the heat exchanger can become damaged. This is especially true if you have anyone but a professional technician work on your furnace, but it can also happen with time. You should have HVAC technicians inspect your heating system each and every year to check for leaks and cracks.

Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless gas. That means you wouldn’t have many ways to notice if it were in your home. It is poisonous, and sometimes people don’t know about it until people in the house start to get sick.

Carbon monoxide detectors save lives. A CO detector near each room where people sleep (and throughout your living spaces) should be tested each month and replaced every 5-10 years. You should also replace the batteries for your CO and smoke alarms every 6 months (even if the test works).