By Elisa Voland

So, you’ve realized you need a whole house surge protector installed in your home. Don’t panic – the entire process is a lot less stressful than you think it might be. Mr. Electric will be there to assist and make sure your expensive and sensitive electronics are well protected. We have included some information about the installation process to make this as simple as possible.

Before Mr. Electric arrives, be sure to clear at least three feet around your electrical panel as required by code for proper workspace for the technician. Don't fret about preparing your home beyond that – we understand you have busy schedules, and our experts will be able to take care of the rest. The area where we will be working varies depending on the job, but technicians will mostly be at the main electrical panel. We will be sure to use drop cloths and wear booties wherever we go in your home to prevent any dirt coming inside.

Our technicians will be sure to explain the task performed before beginning work and will answer any questions during the installation. The entire installation process should take under an hour so expect your electricity to be shut off for the duration of the time while we work.

After we install your surge protector, we will properly clean up any messes made during the job, beyond the extra precautions taken with the booties and drop cloths. We will also vacuum any debris created during our work. Mr. Electric warrants all of our work for a year, so if any problem arises with your surge protector, we will not hesitate to assess the problem and find a solution. 

After that, sit back, relax and enjoy the peace of mind knowing that your home electronics are protected when storm season arrives. We’re here to power your tomorrow! Call Mr. Electric today!

We often find there is a lot of confusion between Lumens and Foot Candles and Lux. And even more confusing is how some represent conversion from traditional light sources like Metal Halide and High Pressure Sodium in terms of watts, and not lumens. So why all the confusion. Well, it may be because those who represent this conversion are trying to avoid letting you know about the efficiency of the LED lights, so they claim you can replace X watts of Metal Halide with X watts of LED. What they should really say is that you can replace a 400W Metal Halide with X lumens, and their lights only need Y watts to produce these lumens. We’ll dive into this a little later, but lets first talk about lumens vs foot candles vs lux.

What is a lumen? A lumen is a measurement of light related to (1) fixture or bulb. So when we talk about lumens, we say that a fixture or bulb creates (X) lumens. These lumens are determined by sophisticated measurement equipment.

What is a foot candle? A foot candle is a unit of measurement at a specific location in a room or outdoor location that is created by 1 to many lights. It is a cumulative reading of 1 to many light sources at a specific location. It is both real and calculated. Real in the sense that you can take a light meter and walk to any location in a room or outdoor location and take a reading that represents the amount of light recorded from all contributing lights or fixtures. Calculated in the sense that you can use software to predict the foot candles of a space based on the placement of lights within the simulation.

What is lux? Lux is identical to foot candles. It is a measurement of real or calculated light, but it is done on a different scale. As a rough estimate, 1 foot candle = 10 lux.

So, simply stated, lights produces lumens, and the cumulative lumens of all lights are then determine the foot candle or lux measurement of light at a specific point in an indoor or outdoor space.