At the Super Bowl this Sunday, almost a third of the nation watched as a power surge caused the big game to come to a halt at the beginning of the third quarter. While the Mercedes Benz Super Dome sat only half lit for almost 40 minutes of what would be one of the most exhilarating Super Bowls of all time, millions wondered how the organizers of the game could allow such a mishap to occur.

A power surge is when a burst of electricity floods a circuit or electrical system, bringing with it the potential to seriously harm appliances, computers, lighting fixtures and any other kind of electronic. You'll usually notice one occurring when the lights in your home suddenly get much brighter for a period of time. Since the electronics in your home are only designed to handle the flow of electricity that regularly passes through the property, their wiring can be overwhelmed.

Sometimes these surges only occur for a short period, causing your lights to increase their brightness for what seems like just a few seconds. These instances are called power spikes and are less harmful to your electronics than a full-on surge, as the amount of time that your appliances are overwhelmed is generally brief.

Early Christmas morning in Stamford, Connecticut, the fire department rushed to the aid of Madonna Badger’s family as their home was engulfed in flames. The simple act of discarding ashes from the fireplace turned deadly when those ashes were not fully extinguished, sparking the blaze from outside the home. The heartbreaking news that both of Badger’s parents and her three young daughters perished in the fire turned what would normally be a joyous holiday into a time of mourning for friends, family, and community members in Stamford. Our hope, at ElectricMan Inc. is that this sad story will help drive home the message that smoke detectors are the most important safety feature that you can have in your home.

“Stamford’s team of fire investigators have stated that the now-demolished mansion at 2267 Shippan Ave. did not have an operational smoke detector system, and the second floor of the home was lacking building certificates” – SouthburyPatch.com

Madonna Badger’s older home was being renovated at the time of the fire, with scaffoldings still in place throughout the holiday, and authorities speculate that the main reason the family wasn’t able to escape is because their home was not equipped with an operational smoke detector system. A new smoke detector system was probably in the plans for this home renovation, but the work had not been completed yet, leaving the family who was still occupying the home unprotected. Even if you are in the process of a smoke detector replacement project, it is vitally important to ensure that your family is protected throughout the process if you will be living there during the renovation.

Had the home been equipped with a functioning smoke detector system, the family’s chances for survival would have been greatly increased due to the vital moments that an early warning can provide. However, simply having smoke detectors isn’t enough. Annual battery replacement, testing twice a year, and smoke detector replacement every 5-7 years are essential regiments to ensuring your system is consistently functioning as designed. For more guidelines for smoke detector replacement and maintenance, please read our comprehensive smoke detector replacement and maintenance blog.

No matter how new or old your home is, you can never assume your smoke detector system is working correctly. If you have concerns, or your home hasn’t been updated to a modern, interlinked, whole house smoke detector system, now is the time to take action and ensure your family’s safety. Contact ElectricMan Inc. today, by phone at 972-792-7270, or through our website at www.electricmaninc.com, to discuss your options and receive a free quote to bring your home’s smoke detection system up to date. Nothing helps you sleep soundly at night better than the knowledge that your family is safe, and we would like to help you achieve that today.

In this series, we’re helping you save energy at your homes and businesses, room by room.

We’re pulling out all the stops to give you the best tips to use in the bedroom – for energy-efficient lighting, that is!

1. Take a survey of all your light fixtures – table lamps, floor lamps, track lights, and any ceiling fans, chandeliers, or pendant lights. How many of these use incandescent light bulbs? If the answer is greater than zero, we’ve identified the first way you can cut down your energy consumption in the bedroom: Swap out all your incandescent household, chandelier, and reflector light bulbs for

Using only 0.3 watts of power, it won’t cost you more than $0.20 to operate each year. That’s 90% less than the traditional incandescent. Not to mention it has a 100,000-hour rated life!

4. What other light fixtures do you use? Wall-mounted reading lights? Shelf lights? Display lights? You can save even more energy by upgrading these fixtures to LED or fluorescent.