If you have been thinking about what you can do to help make your home a little better prepared to handle a major storm, you may want to consider a standby generator. Your home is where you will likely hunker down when the wind starts blowing and the rain starts pouring. Sometimes, the extreme weather can cause trees to fall, which ends up taking down a power line or two. This means your home will not have electricity while the problem is taken care of. Depending on the severity of the storm and the extent of the damage, you could be without power for several days. However, a standby generator installed by an electrician, like those at The Electric Connection, can eliminate that problem.

The generators are enclosed in a metal boxes which helps muffle the sound. If you live in a neighborhood, this is very important. The box also helps protect the generator from the elements and from thieves who are keen to get their hands on the piece of equipment. Everything is taken care of for you during the installation process by your certified electrician. You will need to ensure you purchase a generator large enough to handle the electrical demands of your home. This is all something you can discuss with your electrician.

The generator will be hard-wired into your home’s main electrical panel. When the power goes out, it only takes a split second for the generator to kick on automatically. A transfer switch moves your home from the main power grid to your backup generator. You won’t have to worry about going outside or flipping any switches. If you are not home when the outage happens, you don’t have to worry about the food in your fridge spoiling before you can get there. Give the team at The Electric Connection a call today and learn more about the benefits of a standby generator.

If your circuit breaker keeps tripping, it can be more than a little annoying. Not only do you have to deal with everything attached to that circuit going dead constantly, but you have to wonder what else that means for your electrical system. What causes a circuit breaker to trip, and is it dangerous? Will fixing it be expensive? There are a long line of questions to consider, but most of them can only be answered once you find the root of the problem. We’re here to help!

What causes a circuit breaker to trip? Typically, one of the following:

If your circuit breaker keeps tripping and you’re located in Maryland, Northern Virginia, or Washington, DC, Kolb Electric can help. We’ll send a licensed electrician to your home or building to perform a thorough electrical inspection and diagnose the issue. If we find that the issue can be resolved, either through tightening a loose connection, redistributing the electrical load in multiple outlets, or any other means, we will proceed with your electrical repair. However, a circuit breaker replacement may be necessary. Our licensed electricians can let you know if this is the best course of action for you and install your replacement for you.

Contact us today to find out what causes a circuit breaker to trip in your home or building and get a solution that works!

Nineteen flash patterns greatly increase visibility. Patterns can be synchronized between light heads and easily controlled with one of Super Bright LEDs’

A weatherproof housing and sealed polycarbonate lens are built to withstand impact with road debris and exposure to wet conditions. Installation hardware is included along with foam anti-scratch pads for vehicle surface mounting. The durable LED lights operate within a wide 12-24V DC range for compatibility with any vehicle.

We had a wonderful turnout of ElectricMan Facebook fans who entered to win in our second Dallas Mavericks ticket giveaway and we would like to thank everyone who participated, along with each and every ElectricMan fan and follower.  We truly appreciate your support and love to connect with you in our online community, and we hope you will make ElectricMan Inc. your first call whenever you have electrical problems in your home or business that requires the help of an expert ElectricMan!

It is not news that LED is becoming the new standard in saving money on your lighting bill. But with every new technology, the options are endless and plentiful, and sometimes clever marketing hides what really is important. If you understand the technology, its easy. If your new to the technology, you have to try and determine what is or isn’t important. Which makes the purchase decision even harder for those trying to navigate this maze of product availability and specifications. And to confuse the consumer even more, there is a lot of data being presented that is not created based on any agreed to standard. Read 10 different product brochures on what the marketers believe is the proper solution to replace 1000W Metal Halide and you will read everything from a low as 26,000 lumens to 70,000 lumens. Or what one manufacturer calls day white is total different than what another manufacturer thinks day white is. The best advice we can give the consumer is walk through the same process we do when we select our products to sell. We look for quality, performance, efficiency and great engineering. Let’s break that down to what that means.

Are the LED Lights UL or ETL Listed. This is the safety test. No one wants an unsafe product. The product must be able to perform without any chance of hazard. Are the lights DLC or Energy Star Rated? DLC (DesignLights Consortium) is a performance standard that makes sure the lights are efficient and perform at a high standard. It typically applies only to LED lights, but lately the standard has been broadened to include lighting controls. Energy Star is a consumer standard that applies to many products including small LED screw in bulbs. Up until recently, DLC did not have a provision for screw in bulbs, but has recently changed to allow some screw in LED bulbs.

Are the factories ISO Qualified? A lot aren’t, a lot say they are but aren’t. Some will say they abide by the ISO standards. What does that mean? Some will come up with their own marketing buzz words that sound great on paper and are very clever, but aren’t ISO certified.  To us, ISO certification gives us the peace of mind that the products we supply our customers are built and tested in an exacting and consistent manner with the least amount of risk of failure.