When you own a home, it’s easy for household expenses to spiral out of control. Every year, the average homeowner is in the unenviable position of spending thousands of dollars on owning and maintaining a home- and that’s just when everything is going well! If an emergency hits, many homeowners have to make sacrifices they can ill afford just to keep the home up and running. The best strategy to avoid disaster is to work on cutting down the everyday household expenses associated with owning a home.

So where does the money really go? On average, American homeowners spend about 34 percent of their income on home expenses. Paying for the house itself, of course, is the largest chunk of that expenditure, but does it surprise you to know that utilities make up the next largest amount? Most Americans spend about seven percent of their income on utilities; that’s more than what they spend on entertainment, clothing for the family and even health care! Obviously, that’s an area where it makes sense to find ways to scale back. If you live in Texas, it’s even more important than it is for people in other states as Texas electricity rates are 30 percent higher than rates elsewhere.

To save money on electricity, you need to understand it. Electric companies measure energy usage in kWh, which is a measurement of the hours you spend using 1000 watts. By lowering your kWh, you will, of course, lower your electricity cost, but where do all those kilowatt-hours go? Appliances can be huge energy hogs but so can game systems, televisions and computers. Older homes are often ill-equipped to handle the energy demands of a modern lifestyle, and this can be not only costly but dangerous, as faulty electrical systems can lead to house fires. Modernizing your home can save on more than just household expenses- it might also save your life.

Fortunately, there are some easy ways to save on energy (and its associated costs). If your home is more than 20 years old, get your electrical system checked out by a professional to determine if you need any upgrades. Buy ENERGY STAR compliant appliances whenever possible, and turn off anything you’re not using, from lights and appliances to your Xbox 360.

By Clarissa Allison | December 2nd, 2016

When it comes to choosing which manufacturers to represent, several things are taken into consideration. Longevity, reputation, variety of selection, and response time are all paramount. This week LouieLighting.com would like to introduce a manufacturing partner we are proud to showcase: RAB Lighting.

RAB Lighting has been a leading manufacturer of sustainable indoor and outdoor lighting fixtures since 1946. Their reputation is grounded in the finest manufacturing, supported by a growing infrastructure complete with sophisticated facilities and engineering capabilities. Known for its cutting edge product design, quality, and customer support, the company operates the 6 acre corporate headquarters and manufacturing facilities in Northvale, New Jersey as well as locations in China, Taiwan and Malaysia, from where RAB is serving a constantly growing lighting market.

In 2002, RAB Lighting provided the Vaporproof fixtures which formed the Olympic Rings – this project resulted in the largest sign in history. What a feat! Accomplishments such as these demonstrate the pride and craftsmanship central to the brand.

A modern convenience often taken for granted, electric power, can be found everywhere. To route electricity from the power station to your wall outlet requires many steps. Residential house wiring includes a variety of wiring and control devices to ensure safe and reliable service.

Electricity in the home is distributed by means of branch circuits. Furthermore, each branch circuit is supplied via a circuit breaker sized per the expected load on the circuit. A typical lighting and receptacle circuit will be rated at 15A. Because of their size, larger loads like ovens, clothes dryers, and air conditioning units are given dedicated circuit breakers.

A typical home can have dozens of 15A circuits, and several 20A, 30A, or even 50A circuits. Yet the total of all these breakers is much more than the size of the main breaker. However, this is intentional. It’s highly unlikely that every circuit will be fully loaded at any one time, so a demand factor is taken into account to keep the main breaker at a reasonable size.

A wood-framed home will typically use solid copper non-metallic sheathed cable for the majority of wiring applications. Solid conductors are easy to terminate and cheaper than equivalent stranded wire. The AWG size of the wire is determined by the expected load on the circuit and by the size of the breaker protecting it. You should never connect a wire to a breaker that is too large to protect it, as an overloaded wire can easily catch fire.

Hi Nick,

Mike and I just wanted to thank you and Rick for the excellent service yesterday, a Sunday during a major power outage at that.  From the time I placed the call for help to the time Rick walked out of our soon-to-be-warm-again home, it was only an unbelievable 1.5 hrs!!  I so appreciate your ‘straight-shooting’ with me on the phone about whether our problem could be Oncor related or in our wiring and the option to switch our dead furnace thermostat to the one working leg of power we seemed to have.  Rick arrived just when he said he would, went right to work and determined that we were indeed receiving full power from Oncor, but one of our breakers was bad.  He replaced it, checked things out and was on his way.

You have impressed us with your quality of service.  We certainly will use you again and recommend you when someone asks if we know a good electrician….we do now!