Before you deck the halls and transform your Florida home into a festival of lights this holiday, consider how your lighting display will affect your winter electric bills. Monthly bills can be especially expensive when you and your neighbors beautifully decorate your homes with holiday ENERGY STAR® qualified LED light strands you will save on your utility bills this holiday. And that’s not their only advantage—Use a timer to automatically turn on your holiday lights at dusk and turn off in the middle of the night. By limiting the amount your lights are on to times when people can appreciate them, you will reduce your energy bills.

There are plenty of ways to decorate your home for the holidays—ways that don’t impact your electric bills! Make use of other decorations like tinsel, wreaths, and jingling bells! Instead of decorating the front of your St. Petersburg home with strands of lights, consider buying a solar powered spotlight with different color filters. There are many ways to enjoy the beauty of the holidays without raising your electric bills exponentially.

Photo via Kickstarter.com

Bosua didn’t design this light with merely lethargy in mind – its technological advancements also have the potential to improve your wellbeing. Here are a few things you can do with the LIFX:

While some of these features may seem silly or impractical (I’m sure not everyone reading this has robot dance parties on the regular) I believe there are 2 notable features that make this LED worth a try:

1. Energy Savings. For the equivalent brightness of a 60W incandescent, this light only uses about 10 watts of energy. Plus, by programming it to turn off when you’re gone and dim automatically, you can save even more energy with minimal effort. The creators also say the LIFX will last up to 25 years, so you won’t need to replace them for a very long time.

2. Changing Colors. While at first, turning your lights from blue to red to green might seem a little superfluous, if you spend long periods of time indoors under the same white, bright lights, it can start to mess with your circadian rhythms. Studies like Photo via Kickstarter.com

And if you ever lose your phone, don’t worry, because these lights still work with standard switches too.

The LIFX project is funded through Kickstarter, and light bulbs will start shipping in March of 2013.

Smoke detectors are an important part of safety in the home. These cheap little devices can save your home and your life. If your lucky, the only time you’ve heard one go off is when the toast burnt. It’s easy for us to forget to check on them or even forget to test them after purchasing a new home. But they should not only be checked regularly, but require correct installation. Let’s go over some of the basics of having smoke detectors in the home.

Having smoke detectors placed in various locations around your home allows for fast and effective detection. Once the smoke detector siren sounds, it will warn you that there is a potential fire. You can quickly check the nature of the problem and hopefully prevent any further damage. It will also wake you at night before any harm can come to anyone in your home. The siren also helps firefighters quickly locate the fire in the home so they can focus their efforts.

Because smoke rises, smoke detectors are always placed on the roof for ideal detection. There are two common types of smoke detectors, photoelectric and ionization. Photoelectric sensors use a beam of light within the detector to sense any smoke in the air. The beam will shoot in a straight line when the air is clear. In the presence of smoke the light will scatter, this is when the alarm will go off. Ionization detectors use a chamber with a small electrical current. When smoke enters the chamber and the level of ions in the air changes, the electrical current drops and the alarm will sound.

It is recommended that there are smoke detectors on each floor of your home. If doors to rooms are closed often, it is best to have a detector installed in that room. The device should be placed away from rooms that create steam, such as showers or a laundry room, as this steam could trigger the smoke detector. Most smoke detectors use double sided tape to stick the device to the ceiling. You will need to drill the mount to your ceiling and attach the smoke detector to the sticky mount. Ensure that the batteries you use are working properly.

Smoke detector testing should be done on a monthly basis because batteries can die and sensors can become faulty. Each smoke detector will have a button on it to manually sound the siren. Push this button for a few seconds to ensure the siren is working correctly and the batteries are still active. To test the sensor, you can use an aerosol can of smoke to spray into the smoke detector. It may take a couple minutes for the siren to deactivate, as the smoke needs to clear from inside of the chamber first.

Smoke detectors are vitally important to keeping your home and family safe. We can help you to install smoke detectors around your home and position them to give you the best coverage.

This summer is already heating up and it is time to make the best of the warm weather. It is an excellent time to enjoy the outdoors while relaxing alone and with friends. Sitting on your patio is nice, but imagine sitting on your patio in a tub of hot, bubbling water. A hot tub is a luxurious way to unwind after a long, hot day at work. Sitting on your patio in a hot tub and watching the sun go downs is a little slice of heaven, right here on earth. If you are ready have your own hot tub installed, you will need to contact your local Burbank electrician. You can count on the team at The Electric Connection to help you get your new hot tub up and running.

You will want to visit your local hot tub dealership to pick out the perfect one for you. There are various sizes and styles out there. Once you have decided on the hot tub, it is time to call an electrician. Burbank residents will need to determine where the hot tub will be placed. There are a few things you will need to consider before you schedule your installation. Because your new hot tub will need electricity to operate, you will want it somewhat close to your home to avoid the electrician having to dig a long trench through your yard.

Once you have determined where to place the hot tub, it is time to schedule delivery. An electrician will hardwire the hot tub to your home. You will need a new breaker installed to support the 240-volt outlet required to run the hot tub. Depending on the status of your current electric panel, you may need an electric panel upgrade. Your electrician will do a quick inspection and let you know what is needed. Give The Electric Connection a call today and schedule your hot tub installation.