When it comes to your home electrical system, safety should be your number one priority. Electricity can be dangerous when your wiring isn't connected properly, and a house fire can rip through your home and possessions with alarming speed, putting you and your family's very lives at risk. One common cause of fires is an electrical arc in the circuits behind your walls, when current jumps on an unplanned path from one conductor to another, potentially igniting wood or insulation along the way. Fortunately, you can protect your home against electrical arcs with arc fault circuit interrupters (AFCIs). Read on to learn more.

Your Electrician Can Keep You Safe

According to the National Fire Protection Association, there were 47,700 residential fires caused by electrical failures in 2011, causing 418 deaths and $1.4 billion in damage. Any steps you can take to prevent becoming a victim to one of these disastrous events is money well spent. And while conventional circuit breakers will automatically shut down if a circuit shorts or gets overloaded, they are unable to detect most electrical arcs. That's where the AFCI comes in.

The AFCI works by monitoring the current passing through the circuit, searching for unusual activity that could indicate an arc. When a problem is detected, the device immediately shuts down the circuit, lowering any opportunity the arc could have to start a fire. Keep in mind that some of your appliances or equipment may intentionally create arcs, but in a safe manner – the AFCI should recognize them and only trip during dangerous arcing conditions.

Find Out if Your Family is Protected

Your local code almost definitely requires your home to include ACFIs for circuits that lead to bedrooms, and if your municipality has updated its code in the past year, it may require interrupters for every circuit in the home. However, if your home was built before 2000, it may not have AFCIs installed at all, and it may be worthwhile to make an upgrade.

If you aren't sure if you have arc fault circuit interrupters, open the door of your main panel and look inside. Circuits that have AFCI capabilities are usually indicated by a yellow or green label. If you can't tell, ask an electrician to inspect your wiring and verify whatever safety features are included. The electrician can also make recommendations about whether you should consider upgrading your circuits and give an estimate on how much it would cost.

Don't Let Your Circuits Create a Disaster

If you need help installing arc fault circuit interrupters in your home, or otherwise bringing your wiring up to code, contact an expert electrician today.

Your generator can literally be a lifesaver during an emergency, providing you with power, light, and heat when a disaster strikes or a blizzard renders your neighborhood powerless. However, in order for it to do its job effectively and efficiently, it has to be ready to go on a moment’s notice.

This means that it should be tested routinely, and repaired when needed. The good news is that if you do need repairs, we are here to help. But in what cases would you need this service? Keep reading for 3 reasons your generator may need repair.

The longer your generator lasts, the more likely it is to spring a leak from a hose, line, or storage pan. The leak may come in the form of oil or fuel depending on what type of generator you have. Or, it may even be the coolant, which is designed to keep the engine block from overheating. If you ever spot any puddles around your generator, give our professionals a call right away.

If generators sit too long without being used, the battery can become drained, and problems can develop with other components of the engine as well. If your generator struggles to start up or if it runs fitfully, then it is time to call for service.

When our technicians come to inspect your generator, we’ll take a close look at the wires, buttons, and other electrical components. If they show any sign of damage, the unit should be repaired. These signs can include frayed wires, loose connectors, buttons that stay stuck when you press them or even overloads that shut the generator down when you need it.

The best way to determine if your generator needs repairs is to schedule annual maintenance, but also to conduct a visual inspection yourself at least every few months. It’s also a good idea to run it for 15-30 minutes to listen and look for any trouble it may seem to have.

On the topic of commercial lighting and products, we often hear the term Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP for short), which is a non-profit that was founded back in 1996. There general mission is to accelerate the adoption of higher efficiency lighting within the world of commercial lighting products.

In conjunction with DLC, there is a group known as the Industry Advisory Committee (IAC). There general purpose is to support the mission of the DLC through education, collaboration, and expertise within the field.

So far you can probably start to notice that the DLC is basically all about efficient commercial lighting. But what role are they actually playing within the commercial lighting products industry? Well, the DLC runs something known as the Energy Star, but DLC is all about commercial products where Energy Star is more about consumer products.

On this Qualified Product List provided by the DLC, you can search up products by certain companies that claim to be DLC certified to confirm that they truly are.

While searching through this database, you may notice that some products are listed as “DLC Standard” and some as “DLC Premium.” Do you know which is better? You guessed it, the DLC Premium! The reason that a product being listed as premium rather than just standard is that to be qualified as premium you have to pass even harsher and more strict guidelines. Do you know what that means? It means even more efficient lighting fixtures for those products that have successfully been listed as DLC Premium.

Want to give it a test and see for yourself how this QPL works? Follow these simple steps:

1. Visit extremely helpful link over on the official DLC website that go’s over everything you need to become listed, standard or premium. As you can see on the official DLC website, becoming DLC Premium is only for the most efficient and quality lighting products.