To answer the question “Should I worry about electrical repairs in a new home?” we need to specify what new means. Was the house built recently? Or is it “new” because it is new to you, regardless of its age? In either case, there is a simple rule to follow: if you think you need electrical repairs, you probably do—no matter how old the house is. Always worry about electrical repairs if there are signs that you need them.

When you move into any home built more than 10 years ago, you should hire an electrician to check the system for problems. Despite surface appearances, a home may have wiring troubles from DIY repair attempts from a previous owner; you want to make sure there are no serious problems that need immediate repair to prevent safety hazards.

With a home built pre-1970, you may encounter difficulties from an electrical system that cannot support modern demands. Check on the outlets and the circuit breaker panel. If the home has two-prong outlets and a fuse box instead of a circuit breaker panel, you should have new installations done to upgrade the system. Otherwise you may end up with some major repair worries in the near future. Older circuit breaker panels are often not up to the task of contemporary power needs. If you experience frequent blown fuses or tripped breakers, have a repair technician investigate right away.

With a recently-built house, you shouldn’t have many concerns about your power needs: the home should have sufficient wiring, updated GFCI outlets, and a new circuit breaker panel. However, you can’t simply go lax about small signs of difficulties or indications of improper electrical installation. Look for flickering lights that indicate small power surges. Although these rarely trip circuit breakers, they can cause damage to appliances over time. Call for a repair technician to see if your new home will benefit from a whole-house surge protector.

Check around your ceiling fixtures on occasion to see if they are growing hot. This indicates poor electrical insulation and sometimes occurs in new homes due to poor installation. If you detect poor electrical installation problems in one place in your home, they probably exist elsewhere; call for an electrician to examine your home’s electrical system thoroughly for faults.

Are you looking for ways to cut down on energy usage? Wanting to reduce power consumption is a very common thing, whether it’s to save money, or in an attempt to reduce your carbon footprint. The most common ways people save electricity are by toughing out the heat or cold by not using their AC or heater and by turning off the lights whenever they can. There is a much simpler, convenient way to save energy however.

According to many studies lighting tends to be a fairly large chunk of the average family’s utility bills. Even when lights are turned as often as possible, they can still take up around 12% of the bill. Replacing standard bulbs with fluorescents can save a lot of money over the course of a year on electric bills. In fact, studies show that replacing even just five light fixtures can save the average family over $50 a year. If you need more information about fluorescent lighting or need assistance installing it in your home, contact your local electrician. Pasadena residents can rely on The Electric Connection to answer questions about lighting options.

Fluorescent bulbs tend to be more expensive to buy, but don’t let their price tag scare you away. They are much more energy efficient than regular bulbs, and also last 5-6 times longer than them as well. This means that in the long run they will actually be much cheaper than a standard light fixture.

Although they are more expensive than a regular bulb on the store shelves, it is well worth the investment. The Electric Connection will have a trained and certified electrician in Pasadena ready to help you with any questions you might have about fluorescent lighting. They can also help anybody in need of more energy savings by creating an energy savings plan, which could include fluorescent lighting or other power saving techniques and equipment.

Nearly every single person living in the United States relies on the electrical grid. It's how electricity gets from the power plant to your home, powering your devices and appliances. With no grid, none of the electrical work in your home will function – no television, no air conditioning and no electric lights. Our grid is changing, however, taking advantage of evolving technology on both the distribution and consumer side of the equation. Read on to learn more about how our electrical grid will evolve to meets the needs of the 21st century.

How to Balance Supply and Demand

The electrical grid is not a single object, but rather a giant network of power plants and transmission lines that spans the entire nation. In order for electricity to flow from the generating stations into your home’s electrical work, the grid needs to be able to meet the demand at any given time and place. This can be an enormous challenge – if there is too little production, consumers can be subject to annoying and damaging brownouts. Ramping up generation to meet variable demand is expensive and inefficient, however.

Some utilities solve the problem with time-of-day pricing, charging more during the day and less at night to smooth out demand. Smart technology, however, will allow us to fine-tune the grid even further to increase efficiency, improve communication and mitigate blackouts or other power outages.

Smart Meters and Dispersed Generation

Smart meters are one of the first steps toward our new grid. These meters track residential electrical consumption in real time and can communicate with the utility company instantaneously. They can allow producers to better predict demand, respond immediately to dips and spikes, and further refine variable pricing structures that incentivize people to use less electricity during peak hours. Smart meters also give homeowners the power to see where and when they are putting the most stress on their electrical work, allowing them to adjust their behavior strategically.

Changes are coming to the generation side as well. Traditionally, the electrical grid is powered by large, centralized power plants, but residential solar installations mean that generation is becoming more widely distributed. Wind generation is also becoming an ever-larger factor in our nation's energy supply. This means that the grid needs to be updated to become more flexible and adaptable, but there is a large payoff in sight – the more dispersed that power generation becomes, the more resilient the grid will be in the event of an outage, with smaller regions able to supply themselves with emergency power if they are cut off from the centralized system.

Makes Tomorrow's Energy Grid Work for You

No one knows exactly what the power grid will look like 100 years from now, but the nation is well on its way to updating its electrical infrastructure to meet the needs of this century. If you have any concerns about how your electrical work will interface with the power grid of the future, or need any other work done on the wiring and circuitry in your home, call an expert electrician today.

If you’re in need of an electric panel installation, you might be wondering if you can do it on your own. Even if you’re a handy kind of person, handling it on your own is not a good idea. In fact, many cities have a rule in place that prevents any non-professionals from performing this kind of installation.

Beyond the complicated nature of putting in a new electrical panel, the task can be dangerous. This is in addition to the long-term hazards that might arise from incorrect electric panel installation. You could be putting your home at risk of a fire, in addition to exposing yourself to the possibility of electrocution.

If your panel’s wiring is outdated or improperly installed, you might be facing many difficulties. In addition to inconveniences like not being able to add new circuits to your system, an inferior panel could leave you dealing with added expenses and even dangerous conditions. Some of the reasons for upgrading or replacing your existing electric panel include:

If there are two things you should never mix, its water and electricity. Water actually reduces the body’s electrical resistance. This is why you probably know to never get electrical devices wet; such as bring a radio into the shower with you. It is important to keep yourself safe in the room that has the most water in it. Here are some tips when it comes to running electricity through the bathroom.

Sometimes it can be difficult to light the bathroom properly. With minimal windows or frosted windows, the light just doesn’t come in the same. Lighting is even more important in this situation so you have proper sight to avoid any hazards. You may require ample lighting to keep everything in your bathroom visible at all times. Plus, proper lighting can make your bathroom more peaceful and relaxing.

When installing lights in a bathroom it is important to ensure that they are watertight and water proof. When you have a hot bath or a hot shower there can be a significant amount of steam. If this steam gets into the light fixture or electrical connection it can corrode the wires and increase the chance of electrical surges and fires. If you are installing new lights in your bathroom have an expert check the product and connections to ensure that you are safe.

Blow dryers, shavers, curlers – there are many electrical devices that are commonly used in the bathroom so there needs to be an electrical outlet. This can be a huge risk for electrocution if not properly placed. Electrical outlets should be on their own dedicated circuit. In the event that there is a surge or water contact, only that circuit will shut off. The outlet should also have a GFCI (grounded fault circuit interrupter). Without a grounder, electricity can escape from the device and if you are wet, this is the last thing you want. Lastly, the outlet should be near the sink for functionality, but not close enough that any wires can hang into the water.

Our bathrooms can be a place of peace and escape, but you must respect the danger of putting electricity near water. If you are looking to remodel your bathroom call in an Expert Electrician.