One of the most common electrical problems that faces homeowners is dead outlets. It doesn't matter if you live in an ancient home or your property was just built last year, dead outlets happen in almost every house and for a number of reasons.

Usually, an outlet will go out because the breaker or fuse that it is affiliated with it has been blown. Generally, this will occur because too much pressure is being put on the outlet for the power source to handle. The cause is usually a large appliance plugged in, like an air conditioner that is either an older model, meaning it probably uses extra electricity, or that is sharing the plug with another high-wattage appliance.

You'll need to go to either your fuse or breaker box to fix this problem. If your home uses breakers, flip the switch that corresponds with the outlet in question firmly into the off position, making sure it completely falls in place. Your breakers should be labeled, so identifying which one to switch should be relatively easy.

If you have a fuse box, make sure that your replacement fuse has the same wattage as the one that blew before twisting it into place.

One of the easiest ways to increase your home’s security and beauty is to install outdoor lighting. By combining beautiful outdoor lights with your home’s landscaping, you can increase the value of your home while creating a gorgeous outdoor area that you can enjoy at any time of the day. But what outdoor lights are the best? Let the electrical experts at Kolb Electric help.

Like everything, it depends on what you’re looking for with your outdoor lighting. Do you want security for your home, or landscaping? These questions will point you toward not only what style lights you need, but how bright your lights should be.

When you choose to use outdoor lighting for security, you can go in two different directions. You can either:

If you’re choosing to install outdoor lighting for landscaping purposes, it’s important to keep these few things in mind:

Kolb Electric offers outdoor lighting that will increase your home’s:

Beauty – landscape lighting can be used to showcase interesting features in your home’s architecture or your yard! At Kolb Electric, we can design and install outdoor lighting that will illuminate and call attention to your landscape at night. Landscape lighting is a fully customizable way to improve the look of your house after the sun goes down, particularly if you enjoy entertaining or you want to improve your home’s curb appeal.

Security – dark spots in and around your yard can be dangerous, particularly if they are around entry points into your home. With low-voltage landscape lighting, you can shine a light on potential problem areas in your home and deter intruders late at night!

Safety – in addition to keeping your home safe from intruders, low-voltage outdoor lighting can make walking around your yard safer. It can be used to light up stairways, paths, etc. to prevent tripping and injuries.

A Tiffany lamp is a style of fixture commonly associated with the Art Nouveau movement. The term is sometimes used broadly to refer to stained glass but it gets its name from the original creator and design director, Louis Comfort Tiffany – the son of Tiffany & Co. founder, Charles Lewis Tiffany.

The first Tiffany lamp was produced around 1895. In line with Tiffany’s vision that nature should inspire design, each piece featured elements of nature or geometric shapes to create intricate patterns. Each lamp was handmade by Louis himself or by an artist in his studio.

The bases of the lamps were typically sculpted from bronze with shades created from hundreds of cut glass shapes fashioned together with copper foil. These works of art took many hours of skilled craftsmanship to complete and remain popular to this day, thanks to their complex beauty.

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This issue almost exclusively applies to instructions on how to safely repair it.

The average rated life of a light bulb represents how long it took for half of the bulbs to fail during testing (given perfect conditions). If your bulb lasted 12,315 hours (you counted!) but the label touted an average rated of life of 20,000 hours, you’re actually still within range of an acceptable life span.

We measure LED bulbs a bit differently since they never technically burn out, but rather fade over time. Instead, the Lighting FactsTM label indicates LED lumen maintenance (LM), which is an estimate of the bulb’s lumen depreciation over a given time.

Solution: Understand that the expected lifespan of your light bulb is simply an estimate based on testing that was performed in a controlled environment. When a bulb burns out earlier than that estimate, it doesn’t always mean something is wrong with it.

As we enjoy the final days of spring, it is time to prepare for a scorching summer and everything that means. Summer is an excellent time to enjoy evenings outside on the back patio with a cool beverage, your favorite book and a little music. Maybe your summer evenings involve entertaining outdoors. No matter how you envision spending your summer nights or days, you will be happy to know it call all be that much more comfortable with the installation of an outdoor ceiling fan by and electrician in Los Angeles. These fans add elegance as well as provide a cool breeze. Your friendly electricians at The Electric Connection are here to help you get the most out of your summer.

Ceiling fans indoors have proven their value time and again. Their cousin, the outdoor fan, is often overlooked, but it is just as useful and provides plenty of benefits when placed over a patio, deck or in an outdoor room. As with an indoor fan, the outdoor fans provide a quiet breeze that helps break up the stifling heat. There is another bonus the fans provide—they are an excellent bug deterrent. Flying insects like mosquitoes, gnats and even bees can make your time outdoors unpleasant. With the breeze created by the fan, the bugs will be less likely to invade your space.

An electrician will need to complete the installation of your outdoor fan. Electrical wiring will need to be run outside and along a wall or deck material to the junction box where the fan will be installed. Because of this, you will need to have an electrician familiar with the intricacies of the Los Angeles electrical codes. You will also rest easy knowing the fan was installed correctly and safely by an experienced electrician. If you are ready to make your outdoor summer nights more enjoyable with an outdoor fan, give The Electric Connection a call today.